Of Origami Cranes and a Paper Heart
by cryptically
Summary: KuroSaku. All Sakura wants to do is help her friends out and make them feel better. After all, isn't it the only thing she can do except sleep? Kurogane, though, isn't buying it. Awkward moments and misunderstandings naturally ensue.
1. Sweet Dreams? Maybe Not

My first shot at KuroSaku! Yeah, it's crazy, but it's my personal favorite crack!pairing from Tsubasa and I love it. You don't like it, I'm not forcing you to read it. However, if you want to see the absolute awkwardness and lovable moments that make KuroSaku worth all its absurdity, read on. Personally, I ship KuroTomo like woah and SakuFai as well, but I've always had the crazy idea that these two would probably be able to work things out. Well, that's about all I have to say in my defense, thanks, the jury may now adjourn.

Enjoy.

--cy.

* * *

She placed the cake before him as he reclined at one of the Cat's Eye's spare tables. 

He and the kid had been out late again fighting oni, so most of the usual clientele had departed for their homes, or more hunting. The cafe didn't really have a set closing time; he had half a mind to think that the wizard kept it open as long as there was some warm body in there to order food. He wondered absently how many sleeplessness nights Fai had had.

If things kept up the way they had, he wasn't going to be having a reprieve any time soon. The money from the oni and the cafe funds rolled steadily in, but only because the oni were getting bolder and the oni hunters needed somewhere to go at all hours for a quick pick-me-up.

Kurogane was worn out and desperately could have used some refreshment. Not necessarily hot chocolate and green tea, which he had a sneaking feeling were going to be placed before him next. His tongue longed for sake, something that could take him back to Nihon when everything seemed so dim and hopeless here.

Maybe hopeless wasn't the right word. Bland, he supposed, could have done it if it had a connotation with "boring disaster." Yeah, that seemed about it. This whole place was one big train wreck in slow motion, wasn't it?

Couldn't even find the source of the damned oni without getting your ass smeared across main street.

Naturally, he'd been fine. There were a few scratches from the encounter, but apart from that, there wasn't anything that an hour in his room with a roll of bandages wouldn't fix. Maybe even less than that. He'd gotten awfully good with medical tape.

The kid, though, that was another story. Syaoran had the bright idea that legs were better weapons than swords against oni. The ninja already knew that swords would be any fighter's best bet, especially Syaoran's, except for distance weaponry, which the boy undoubtedly would refuse to learn. He'd gone straight ahead of the crowd --Kurogane remembered thinking something along the lines of "show-off" and probably could have prevented his resulting injuries if he'd wanted, but he wanted a teacher, hadn't he? This was what happened when you didn't listen to teacher-- of oni hunters which they'd gathered for the sole object of finding the place where the demons came from.

No such luck. A dark claw had swiped Syaoran's legs out from beneath him and that was that. Kurogane had to finish the rest of the pack off before things got worse. Their cherry blossom chip of a wallet had beeped significantly after that, which made it somewhat comforting, but the reason he'd fought the oni wasn't for that.

It was chocolate cake, Kurogane noted duly, musing on whether he ought to poke the confection with a fork, maybe make it look like he's eaten it, or just let it sit. Either way sent a message.

The boy had clearly done the stupid thing in that situation. He'd told him to hold back. He'd told him that feet were for walking and that hands were where the weapons should be. Had the kid used the arms he'd been outfitted with, then this could have been different. Instead, it was Little Doggy down and out for at least a week. The docor's fees had been exorbitant, probably most of his earnings for the evening, but Syaoran would make it. Bed rest for a while, but he'd pull through.

For some reason, though, he felt the driving need to know whether or not the kid would have a slice of cake on his bedside table. Of _chocolate_ cake.

Why did it even matter? He hated sugary things.

The display case behind the counter was stocked full of them, though. Strange creations that Fai had introduced him to (but not been able to cram down his throat as of yet) like nut doughs, or something, which had the centers cut out of them and frosting piled on top. Or, shortcake, a cake that was not really very short compared to all the other cakes in the cases, but did not seem to receive sugar. He reasoned that he might go for that one, if worst came to worst and the magician foisted some of his cooking on him.

Though, not everything was Fai's handiwork. Some items, even popular best sellers, came from the talent of the Cat's Eye's other chef. Several of the frozen cakes, drizzled with chocolate and strawberry sauces with a sprig of mint delicately placed on top were frequently ordered, as well as the parfaits and sugary wings of pastry that had been crafted into shapes like hearts, stars and then frosted with a light dash of confectioner's sugar.

Kurogane stared hard at the cake. Everything in this damnable place was sugar. Couldn't a ninja get a break?

He supposed that he could always take the walk down to Clover if he wanted to have to deal with the wizard bounding along merrily and demanding that they take hoe a sack full of liquor to gorge themselves on. This particular event had no set day to occur on: it was guaranteed to happen every time Kurogane went to get a bottle of sake, or even a glass, but the cafe had been so busy lately that nothing had taken place for quite a few days.

The cake stared back.

Kurogane stared more fiercely. This was turning into quite the contest.

He was hungry. That much was true.

He wanted a nice bento box selection of his favorite foods: a few rolls of fresh sashimi, tuna, shrimp, all neatly lain across sticky chunks of rice, complete with ginger shavings in the corner, and seaweed placed neatly to the side. Stomach pining for the tastes of his old home, he sighed. What was before him was as far from that as it could get. He couldn't stand sugar and didn't see why anyone should want to keep force-feeing him it. Wasn't one bad experience enough?

At this point, Kurogane could have left and avoided any confrontation, could have said he hadn't noticed the cake, despite it being so obvious (he was a tired ninja, but a ninja above all, and didn't overlook things), or that he'd had a rough night and his stomach wouldn't take anything, despite its protestations. He probably should have left, but he remained glued in the chair. Why?

Because it would hurt.

He'd see her disappointed face and he'd watch the excitement ebb out of those emerald green eyes.

Oh, but how he hated cake...

The last patrons were heading out. At the counter, Sakura was industriously wrapping a box of cookies for a couple, probably oni hunters out on a date, he surmised, as they waited and oggled the other merchandise. The magician stood by the register, tallying up the day's efforts and taking stock of the remaining inventory. From where Kurogane was sitting, he could make out some of the conversation the couple was having.

"Oh, look at that! Chocolate cake with raspberry fondant and creamy, chocolate ice glaze! Mmm...sounds heavenly, dont'cha think?" The lady bent forward to examine the display case further. Her partner agreed.

"Doesn't it? Looks like it comes with ice cream filling, too. Too bad, though, looks like they've all sold out."

Kurogane refused to look down at his plate, instead focusing on the window. If an oni would just attack right now, maybe it could save him some shred of dignity...

This would have been, undoubtedly, the worst time for Fai to have said anything, so, naturally, Fai said something.

"Ah, the cake? You've got a fine eye for pastry. It's a new dish that Sakura-chan here created and even though it's only been out for a day, it's been selling like hotcakes. I can't seem to keep any out in the display for long." He laughed and went on to describe the ingredients and the cake itself in fuller detail.

At this point it seemed irrational not to look at the dessert before him. Kurogane noted the chocolate and ice cream layers, and the gentle swirl of raspberry draped over it, melded with chocolate fudge. Yup, no doubt about it. But...Sakura had actually made a cake?

"I helped her with the chocolate bases, but, yes ma'am, our lovely Sakura-chan took care of the rest."

And she'd given it to him. Not her boyfriend. Not to say that the kid was her boyfriend anyway--that didn't matter at all. Why should it if it did?

He felt better by shifting his chair so that he wouldn't have to see the counter any more.

The scene was gone from his line of vision, but he could still hear them perfectly. Sakura must have blushed wildly at something because the wizard commented on it, and Sakura, in an effort to retain her dignity, offered to bake another cake for the pair. Kurogane sighed. First, any baking done this late at night was bound to come out badly (he'd seen it happen a hundred times before), second, it would make the entire cafe, and consequently the living quarters upstairs, unbearably hot for the remainder of the evening, and third, goddammit, he had a piece of the thrice-damned cake right in front of him!

He had half a mind just to walk up to the couple and thrust it in their faces, say something sharp about gifts from teenage girls, and then storm off to the roof in a huff, where he would remain for the rest of the night.

Needless to say, Kurogane was relieved to hear the couple decline her request ("It's much too late to be baking things, dear! But thank you so much for offering.") and they said that they would come back in the afternoon tomorrow if she could bake them a cake and set it aside for Team Clarion. Sakura promised she would.

"Alright, that's that, Little Kitty-san!" Fai patted his coworker amiably on the shoulders. "Good job today, now it's just cleaning up. Want to go check on Little Puppy-Kun?"

A pause. Kurogane thought he heard something whispered.

"Oh, alright then." He could just imagine that mage winking, sharing some little secret. "If that's what you want, Sakura-chan."

Footsteps going up stairs. But which ones...?

The chair across from him is pulled out and she sits down in it. Sakura gave him a small smile.

"Fai-san told me that you and Syaoran-kun were oni-fighting with a big group today."

He doesn't want to meet her eyes. "Yeah. You're worried for him?"

Stupid question. They're lovers in their world, weren't they? He hasn't been with the group long by he can tell something's up between them. Sometimes there's someone even a dimension couldn't drag you away from...oh yes, he knew that little tidbit very well, didn't he?

"Of course I am! Poor Syaoran-kun! I wish I could do something for him..."

Alright, now the obvious question. He hated himself for asking it.

"Why don't you try giving him something?" He gestured to his cake.

"I thought I would, but the doctor said it was best if he didn't eat anything until morning. I'll have some doughnuts ready by then and I'll see if he's ready for them." Her hands flew to her mouth. "Kurogane-san! You haven't touched your cake! Is there something wrong with it?"

No. Of course not. I was just waiting for--

He gave himself a rough, abrupt pinch on his arm. What had he almost thought?

"No, nothing's wrong. I was just thinking."

She waited. Kurogane grimaced inwardly.

"Looks good, though."

Why had he said that? Now he'd have to eat it...

Compliantly, he poised his fork over a corner of the cake, away as far from the frosting, chocolate sauce, powdered sugar, and ice cream (filling or topping), as he could get. And he bit into it. Sakura looked relieved and smiled, asking:

"What do you think? Tell me the truth, okay?"

Holy hell, it was horrible. All the sugar just in the chocolate cake's base was clogging his mouth, griming his teeth with fudge...he withheld a shiver. _No. Not in front of her_.

"It's not what I usually eat. In fact," he gave the fork a wary glance, "I don't think I've ever had chocolate cake before."

"Really? You mean they don't have them in Nihon?"

"No," Kurogane replied, taken slightly aback that she'd remembered his country's name. She'd been sleeping so much, he thought she wouldn't even--

"Well, I'm glad then. I actually made it because..." The words rushed out. "I wanted it to be special. The colors, it's really silly, I know, I mean, chocolate and raspberry... It's just that I was so worried..."

Worried? About what? She slept through just about everything...she shouldn't be able to recall anything to worry about.

The ninja's confusion must have been evident because Sakura called him out on it.

"About you."

Kurogane had felt compelled to take another bite of the cake, accidentally nicking a frosting patch. He still wasn't that good with a fork yet. But on hearing this last reply, whether because of the reply itself or the sheer shock of having the pure sugar in liquid form that was frosting in contact with his taste buds, he choked.

Sakura hadn't seemed to notice.

"I wondered if everything was alright...you seem so lonely and if there was a reason you know, I don't mind hearing it. I can't do much but...I want..." Her brow furrowed. "I guess I just want to make everybody feel better...Kurogane-san? Oh my-- are you choking?"

Oh, gods, was it so obvious?

"I'll go get help! J-just stay there! Don't move! Wait, I'm on my--"

Her words were cut off with a loud smack as she crashed into the wall near the stairs. Kurogane, now thoroughly finished with his choking escapade, got up and walked to her, still lying on the floor.

"Oh, Kurogane-san...are you okay now?"

He nodded. "Yup, fine as ever. You, however, are not."

The damage would probably amount to a bruised elbow, a few scuffs, and maybe a couple addled memories. But Sakura already had quite a number of those, so he doubted a few more would make a difference.

"There was something..." Her eyelids fluttered sleepily. It wasn't uncommon for her to need a nap, especially after sustaining injury, he knew. Otherwise, he might just have felt the smallest twinge of worry pecking away at him. "...something I needed to ask you..."

"Not now. Ask me in the morning."

She nodded, each nod slower than the last, and finally the sounds of even breathing drifted up to Kurogane's ears.

"Well, looks like you two certainly had an eventful night."

Every hair on Kurogane's neck shot straight up. "It's not like it seems."

"It never is, Kuro-pii, it never is." Fai graced his ninja friend with a wink and scooped Sakura's limp body up in his arms. "I'll escort Little Kitty-chan up to her room for the night. You ought to turn in as well or else you'll have trouble fighting oni tomorrow, saa?"

He smiled as he departed, taking the princess with him.

Kurogane went back to his table and studied the cake. Geez, all that effort for something that he'd detest...

What had the girl said? Something about colors...

Raspberry and chocolate. From what he knew of cooking, it was that maroony stuff and the brown that was everywhere.

He snorted. What in hell did maroon and brown mean? Damned if he knew...

And then it hit him. He swallowed, looked at the cake again for confirmation, and ran a hand through his hair uncertainly.

Raspberry and chocolate. Red and black.

A little off: they didn't exactly match the deep hues of his cloak, but the resemblance was there.

Standing up shakily, Kurogane didn't clean up the plate, didn't do anything, except concentrate on getting to the roof.

He did not sleep well that night.


	2. Never Enough

"Any way you put it, Kuro-ruu, you don't have enough people on your team to go out oni-hunting and that's that."

"I don't care how you say it, I'm not taking her along with me."

"Taking who along with you, Kurogane-san?"

Fai clapped an arm around the unhappy ninja's shoulders and led him forcefully away from the princess. "Oh, nothing, Sakura-chan! Kuro-pon's just angry in the morning. Can you get to baking the first batch of cakes for today? It looks like we're going to be busy."

Sakura nodded and dashed off. Kurogane couldn't believe this.

Yes, he needed a member of his group to fight oni with him. That was in the basic rules of this place: two people fighting as a pair, or nothing. Now that Syaoran was out for the count for the foreseeable week, he would need another fighter. What he did not need was to babysit a ragtag princess all day.

"Look," Fai said in confidential tones, once he was sure Sakura was busily mixing up batter, "I know you don't want to do this. But it's really the only way we can keep everything working smoothly. Syaoran-kun's a big asset and without him, we're sort of left short-handed."

"So why doesn't the invalid mind the store and princess while you and I go out and hunt oni?"

Fai covered his mouth with one hand. "But think how scandalous that would be, Big Doggy-san! Two young teenagers left to mind the cafe...what would the customers think?"

"Stop calling me that!" He was sorely tempted to smack the wizard but resisted.

"Besides, Syaoran-kun is still sleeping. The doctor gave him some medicine and he won't be up for a while."

"Great." This wasn't going at all the way he'd planned. "What about just letting the princess run the cafe herself? You already said she can cook."

Fai pouted. "But she can't cook as good as me, Kuro-pin! And she still falls asleep sometimes and needs someone to catch her. What if she dozed off in the middle of an order or in front of an open oven?"

Kurogane bit his lip, trying not to imagine a toasty Sakura. "She'd still be much more endangered in battle. The pork bun is always an option."

"Saa, Moko-chan isn't even registered in Oto country's residency log. His being there wouldn't coun--"

"Mokona won't fight! Mokona wants to help Syaoran-kun get better. And Mokona likes eating the cakes that Sakura-chan makes!"

Kurogane scowled. That manjuu was just about made of sugar itself, why wouldn't it like Sakura's cooking?

The magician patted the white creature on the head. "See? No good. So, the only real option is...why hello there, Little Kitty-chan! Did you finish the cakes?"

She nodded enthusiastically.

"Okay, great! Could you make me some frosting too? All our customers seem to love the double fudge."

"Alright, Fai-san!"

Double fudge...Kurogane's stomach churned at the thought of all that sweetness.

"So, you're going to foist her on me no matter what excuse I make?"

"Yup, Kuro-pippi, that's the plan!"

His eyes narrowed. "You know as well as I do that she has little to no upper body strength, no knowledge of how to hold a weapon or defend herself-- the problem isn't that she doesn't have enough skill to go hunting oni, it's that she doesn't have any skill at _all_."

"Well, that's why you're taking Sakura-chan with you. She needs to build confidence, strength, and all those other talents you need to function in the world."

A lace-pigtailed head poked out of the kitchen. The damn magician had been talking so loudly she probably couldn't help but hear.

"What's going on, Fai-san? I thought I heard my name."

Fai turned. "You did. I'm going to stay here and mind the cafe, try to chat up a few costumers and see if they'll provide me with some information. And you, Sakura-chan, are going to have a fun day helping Kuro-min!"

The princess' face lit up. The thought _Oh, crap!_ barely had time to scream its way through Kurogane's head.

"Really? But I don't have enough training! I've never even--"

"Oh, don't worry about that, Sakura-chan! The entire reason we're sending you is so that you can learn. You did say you wanted to help everyone out more, right?"

The girl nodded. Kurogane couldn't believe that she actually bought that. Was she really so naive? Could her need to help others be manipulated so much? A sudden thought hit him. If she acted every time a person needed help or gave special attention to other people constantly, then how different was last night's incident from any other kindness? He was making too much out of nothing. If the girl wanted to make everyone happy, it should come as no surprise that everyone included him. Even if it was a red and black cake...gods, he was such a fool sometimes! At least no one else had noticed.

"But the store--I haven't made nearly enough of what you'll need today--"

Fai waved it off. "Go play outside and have some fun. It's healthy for a girl your age to go do that every once in a while. Besides, I _did_ teach you how to cook a lot of those dishes in the first place, remember?"

Thus convinced, she dashed up to her room, found some more suitable clothes to wear for oni-hunting (the lace pigtails stayed, much to Kurogane's discontent) and, with one last scathing look at Fai for getting him into this mess, the ninja swept off, princess in tow.

For the first hour, she'd spent her time merrily enough, questioning him how he held a sword, what sort of stance she ought to take, etc. It seemed endless.

The sun was blazing rather brightly at noon when he was about to suggest that they head in for a while. Maybe not back to the Cat's Eye...he'd be too tempted to drag Fai out, or if the wizard resisted too much, Kurogane reasoned that he could always just grab Syaoran and use him as a weapon instead, avoiding this current awkwardness entirely. All because that kid hadn't had enough foresight to get out of the way when the oni's claw came rattling through.

Behind him, he heard Sakura yell his name. Doing his best to ignore the way she pronounced each syllable--damn it all, didn't he have enough problems to worry about already? -- he whirled around, demanding to know what was the matter.

The first oni circled around back, cutting them off from each other. Damn! Just the worst thing to happen when you were assigned to guard someone. As the rest followed, Kurogane felt an icy dread creep into his veins.

It was just like back home. Protect the princess from the monsters. He'd done this a thousand times or more with Tomoyo when she went on tours of Nihon to visit local shrines or villagers. He'd always arrive just before the blow struck, and Tomoyo-hime had grown used to not even flinching when an attacker wheeled her way. She'd just give that laugh of hers that sounded like chimes and "oh-ho-ho" the assliant away, with a little help from her faithful guard.

Now, with the black claws reaching towards this new princess, Kurogane, even as he rushed forward, knew that he wouldn't have enough time to parry it. Which is why, when the blow struck home, he wasn't at all surprised.

* * *

Cliffhanger! haha! And now to answer reviews: 

**VenG**: Aww! I'm actually a huge fan of sweets, so it was really hard for me to imagine them ever not tasting good. I can't believe Kuro-bun isn't fond of them...but I can definitely agree that eating them for weeks on end would probably not be good. (lol) Maybe Kuro had a bad candy experience as a child? I'm definitely continuing this--as you can tell--so I hope you like later chapters as much as the first one.

**xXTomoyoXx**: Dude, you totally should! KuroSaku deserves all the love it can get! I would so read a fic about them if you posted one. They have a C2 now, which is good. I used to think I was the only one out there shipping them, so it's awesome to see all the support they're getting. And raspberries rock. I used to have some growing in my backyard.

**Nueva Yui Maxwell**: They're one of the cutest OTP's I've ever seen. I love all the potential for awkwardness these two have, so I'm totally going to exploit that.

Thanks to everyone for the reviews! I love reading them.


	3. What You Leave Unsaid

His eyes stared ahead widely, but everything still seemed to grow darker. Slow and unrelenting, a shadow began to eat away at the edges of his vision, an eagerly gobbling night, and for a moment, the world went black.

A hot stab of pain trickled down his back and involuntarily he let out a low groan. Not good to use oneself as a last resort shield, but what choice did a one-second defense have? He should have gotten there sooner...

Something behind him moved, probably Sakura. His eyes, though, remained fixed on the sky above, watching its instant transformation from high noon to dead of night. What was up with this place?

And why did everything have to go wrong when he had _her_ with him?

Whirling, he saw the oni standing dangerously close to them. He firmly resolved that today was simply going to suck no matter what action he chose to take, and thus decided to hastily hide his charge before any more harm could come to her or, in turn, she could draw to him.

"Sakura."

Kurogane's eyes remained riveted on the oncoming attackers. Beside him, he could feel the princess start. She didn't seem to be hurt, just a little shocked. He unsheathed Sohi.

"Find cover." Sensing an objection, he raised a hand, ushering her not to argue. "Over to your left behind that blue box looks good. Stay there and don't move."

She either nodded or said something in affirmation, for the next time he checked the periphery of his vision, she was gone.

The sword swept up in front of him in a gentle but deadly arc.

"Alright, then," his tongue could taste the darkness on it, the shade had grown so palpable, "I don't mind a good game of hide and seek, especially one where I take you all down and hang your sorry asses out to dry."

The ninja smiled grimly. And that was only the beginning.

Quickly dispatching three to his immediate right that had tried to sneak up on him, he turned his attention to those ganging up in front.

"Bring it on, bastards."

Another four down and he wasn't quite so cocky. The dark spots from before had started to take out valuable chunks of his vision again, fading in and out as he struck. His last blow had cleaved an oni clean in half and at the same time caused a white streak of pain to bolt through his back and arms.

He shook his head to try to cure it of the ailment. As suspected, it didn't work. The dark blotches did dance around for a while, though, dizzyingly.

Gritting his teeth, he continued the onslaught. Ahead, he caught sight of an oni with a scrap of black fabric trapped tightly in its claws. His back prickled. Alright, payback time.

Once everything was taken care of, Kurogane was out of breath and struggling not to let any sign of his injury show. The cherry wallet in his pocket whirred merrily, informing him when he took a moment to check it, pasuing before returning to the princess, that he had made quite the tidy sum for the afternoon's--or evening's, or whatever it had become now's--work.

Sakura came out from behind the box, eyes darting to and fro before completely abandoning shelter. Elsewhere in the dark, Kurogane almost scoffed. The girl had no experience fighting: if there was anything coming up behind them, he would be the one to sense it, not her.

Then again, these oni didn't give off any aura, so...

He hastily, albeit furtively, double-checked as well.

"C'mon, then. We'd better get to some place that's well-lit."

A few blocks later, they came across an inn that had a seating area with private booths. The sign outside the door had read something along the lines of "The Dancing Rice Cake", which sounded like a safe enough name, and Kurogane ignored the stare he received from the waitress when he asked for a private table for two. Syaoran had explained this entire complicated process of going to restaurants to him before-- maybe it had been in Hanshin? -- and couldn't fathom why she would be so interested if he'd asked just like any other customer.

He was perfectly within his bounds to do this. Was it so abnormal to see two people going to a restaurant together?

Still mulling this over, he slid into a booth opposite Sakura and peered through the menu handed to him.

"Kurogane-san?"

His eyes were having trouble adjusting to the light. He squinted through a fog of grey at the girl. He'd never let her know about any of this. Guardians aren't supposed to falter. Protectors don't reveal their weaknesses to those whom they protect.

"What is it?"

The princess scanned the list of entrees. "I'm not all that hungry, I guess...oh, I don't know..." She trailed off.

"Just say it, kid."

She looked up at him abruptly, bitting her lip in consternation. "I'm not really that much of a help to you, am I?"

_Damn straight_, he wanted to say, and had he not caught himself, the words would have rolled right off his tongue. Instead, he forced himself to take a deep breath, and, eyes closed, he responded calmly and in a level tone.

"Answer me this. Have you ever had any weaponry training or seen any battles before today?"

"Well, no..."

"Then it's not your fault that that oni--"

"It's just that it got so dark so quick!" She balled up a hand into a fist, a look of determination spread across her features. "If it had been lighter, I'm sure I could have done something more! Sorry for interrupting you, Kurogane-san, but I really do wish I could make this job easier for you. You're always working so hard off by yourself, and it just seems like there's nothing anyone can do sometimes."

A spasm of pain dashed criss-cross over his back. He withheld a twitch, but only just. Seeing her here...was making it awfully hard to concentrate.

"Look, it's not your fault. The greatest thing you can do--"

Sakura leaned forward, so eager to hear his next words that the sudden appearance of the waitress nearly caused her to topple out of her booth.

"So, what'll it be?"

A plate of mozzarella sticks later, Kurogane excused himself and ventured to the bathroom to inspect the damage the oni had done in the light. It was about as bad as he had suspected. Dark blots snatched away swatches of valuable sight as he attempted to bandage the wound with the torn fabric of his shirt, and he reeled after touching a particularly sore portion of his flesh. One thing was certain: he had to get back to the Cat's Eye immediately.

But...Sakura.

He didn't want to alarm her; this was the last thing he was prepared to handle. To be in debilitating pain with a teenage girl fretting and worrying herself into a frenzy around him was not high on his list of "Fun Activities with Sakura". In fact, the top item on that list currently was something along the lines of being locked in separate rooms with no means of reaching each other.

Paying their bill, the cherry wallet emitted a happy beep! before falling silent. Sakura followed him out the door, oddly quiet.

All the way back, she said nothing, brow furrowed until they reached the Cat's Eye's now deserted dinning area. The pain in Kurogane's back had intensified from sharp throbs to a constant, seizing ache, making it difficult to inhale normally.

"Kurogane-san?"

"What?" His voice was a rasp.

"What was it you were going to say to me beforehand? About the greatest thing I could do for you?"

He maintained silence, trudging up a few stairs before pausing.

"Just... be there."

He managed another few stairs before collapsing.

Just before unconsciousness settled in, Kurogane had time to suppose that his remark had been a bit cryptic. It wasn't what he'd intended to say, at least, it wasn't what he'd been on the verge of saying back at the restaurant. Pain can make a person say strange things. This he knew from experience. He fumbled wearily at grasping a stair on his way down before giving it up for a lost cause and letting the darkness overtake him at last.

Some things were better left unsaid.

* * *

Reviews!

**xXTomokoXx** :: See? I got it right this time! Hope you like this chapter, too!

**Crusader Ari** :: yay! Thanks for that! Kuro-pon is very fun to write from, just 'cause he's so pessimistic and snarky about everything. Oh, snark ninja, how we love thee.

**venG** :: Kuro-run definitely doesn't get off easy in this story. Then again, I sort of have more fun putting characters through hilariously difficult situations than easy plots. I get to explore their characters more and that's always entertaining.

**Chess Piece** :: Glad to hear it! As a writer, I like writing fics about challenging pairs, couples that make me think "how on earth could these two like each other?" It's a neat creative exercise for me as well.

**Terrific Tina** :: Whoops, guess I did it again. Oh, those cliffhangers...

I really have to apologize for the long wait for an update, guys. Recently, my family moved and I started college (which has been awesome! totally looking forward to taking a creative writing class soon!) so there hasn't been much time for writing. I'll do my best to get a few chapters out for everyone who's been so patient over the break, though.

Enjoy the holiday and merry Christmas!

--cy.


	4. Broken Chances and Backward Glances

"Kurogane!"

_Why? _

Why did he always feel the need to hide things, more so than ever these days? It's not like anything had changed. But...he just couldn't bear to have her know.

Why?

Couldn't have her even begin to wonder...

"Kurogane!"

He woke up--it must have been the next day, light was shining through the window--to the smiling face of the goofball wizard and the concerned one of the princess. Flopping over, which caused an unfortunate bolt of pain to wing its way up his shoulders, he grimaced and said:

"What already? You can stop calling my name. I'm up." He was also a bit miffed at the lack of an honorific in the aforementioned name-calling, but he was still too exhausted to erupt into violent rage. So, he let it slide.

The magician, administering a poultice to a wrapped wound on his charge's arm, gave him a quizzical look. "No one called your name, Kuro-pon. Maybe you were just imaging things?"

Kurogane closed his eyes and tried to remember how the voice from earlier had sounded. It had seemed so familiar...

Suddenly, he found the back of his head bombarded by a pillow, wielded by the overly eager hand of a certain wizard.

"Hey you! No going back to sleep on me now! You may need your rest, but inquiring minds want to just know how it was that Kuro-rin met with disaster last night!"

Damn that mage. Even when he stuffed his own pillow over his ears, he still couldn't drown out the happy voice of Fai. Damn him to hell.

With his head still resolutely under the pillow, Kurogane replied through his teeth, his voice also muffled slightly (which, compounded together, was tricky to understand), "I came out worst in a fight."

Fai shook his head and made tsk-ing noises. "Kuro-bun! How many times must I tell you not to fight the stairs? They always win!"

The ninja grunted something incomprehensible.

"Saa, what was that, Kuro-ruu?"

Sakura, who had been standing in the room all this time, tugged at the hem of Fai's sleeve and whispered something in his ear. Kurogane, still buried in coverlets and various blankets, cushions, and pretty much every soft thing that the Cat's Eye had to offer (including a spare oven mitt), did not hear the words of their conversation. Still, though, his keen ninja senses perceived the gentle closing of a door, and the shuffle of feet. Back tensing, he readied himself to pounce at the first sign of danger.

But who was he kidding?

Bandaged, roughed up, and in generally poor condition from last night's exertions, he was in no position to be fighting off much of anything. Well, except perhaps boredom.

"Kurogane-san?"

He twitched. Ninjas didn't twitch.

"I...I wanted to talk to you."

He sighed, an eruption of cloth and feathers. "Why?"

Sakura's gaze slipped to the floor, as she said, very soft. "That's exactly what I want to know."

Kurogane poked his head out from under a seat cushion, looking most unprofessional. "What was that?"

She started, as though she herself had been stunned at what she'd spoken.

"Nothing. I was just wondering about some things and wanted to talk to you."

Her expression betrayed her.

Sitting up despite the protestations of the bindings on his back, Kurogane angled himself to focus more on the young princess. Her bright eyes roved the floor abysmally, her sweet smile had vanished, replaced by a worried line across her lips, and a her brow was knit with concern. Something was not as it should be.

"Sakura-hime."

His voice was surprisingly gentle. This was a shock, to both parties. Kurogane tried to glare at his throat to get it stop betraying him and was met with overwhelming failure; Sakura looked up quickly and then down again, flustered.

Once his epic battle with his vocal chords had concluded, Kurogane began again. "Something's bothering you. Don't try and deny it. It's about written on your face about as plainly as insanity is written on that idiotic mage's."

A hint of a smile played around her mouth. "You and Fai-san are such good friends."

_What?_

The shock, distaste, and utter confusion barely had time to register before Kurogane wondered where the conversation was going.

"What do you mean? What _exactly_ do you mean by that?" His eyes narrowed.

"You two may fight with each other," Sakura mused, twirling a strand of her honey-brown hair about a finger, "but you really do care about each other. Each pretends not to, you're constantly at odds, but deep down, you can't stand it when the other gets hurt." She paused. "I just wish..."

But then she broke off and nothing more was forthcoming.

Kurogane waited.

"Fai-san told me that you'd been injured pretty badly on your back."

He said nothing. The next sentence was barely above a whisper.

"Kurogane-san...why didn't you tell me?" She took a breath, before launching off into all the emotions she had kept repressed. "I wanted to help you! My purpose for being on your team was to provide support. How can I support you when you never tell me when something's wrong?"

"I want to help you! I know I'm no good at fighting, and that I'm really just dead weight to you in battle." She paused, meeting his eyes finally with a fairly fierce glare. "And don't say I'm not, because I can tell from how you act that I am. You're always guarding me, and that's why you got hurt last night. You couldn't even rely on me to help you."

Kurogane swallowed.

There were...reasons for those things. Other reasons, that the princess hadn't thought to consider, that made up the greater logic behind why he'd hidden his injuries. First, he hadn't wanted her to know about it. He hated getting injured in his line of work; wounds made warriors less stealthy, careless, more likely to receive further injury. A haphazard drop of blood split at an inopportune moment--say, perhaps, when one was hanging from a ceiling-- could give away one's position and throw an entire operation into ruin. He had a right to conceal things anyway. He was a ninja, wasn't he? That was his job.

But...when guarding someone, he most hated showing weakness. Kurogane hated weakness in general, whether in people's characters or their fighting skills, but he most despised it in himself. He had fashioned himself into someone that could be relied upon, trusted with the weight of the world, someone who would not falter. Protecting someone, whether it was the ruler of a kingdom, or a girl whose memories were lost to the stars, was what he was meant to do. And when he stopped being able to perform that job, what use was he?

He wouldn't admit that Sakura had anything to do with this. The fact that he found himself more willing to risk his own safety for her own already bothered him. She was, in the most logical sense, the cargo that he'd need to guard to return to Nihon. She was important, yes, but only for this purpose. There was, he reasoned, nothing else to it.

This was, naturally, a complete lie. But he wouldn't let the true thought enter his conscious mind.

"I want to know what I can do. I want to be useful!" Sakura stopped her pacing, which she'd gotten a bit carried away with during her tirade. "I want to be someone you can trust, Kurogane-san. I'm not some little girl who can't take care of herself!"

She paused.

"Or someone that you need to hide things from! If we're really a team, then--"

What? What then, princess?

"Lunch is served, Kuro-min!"

Fai intervened jauntily, pushing the door open as he stepped inside, carrying a steaming bowl of soup and some rolls. He was about to place them on the beside table when he noticed Kurogane sitting up and Sakura's face shift through several interesting shades of red. An expression of pure curiosity dominated the mage's features as he watched the girl slowly edge out of the room, still blushing furiously, and, once out, heard the sounds of her racing down the hall.

With an eyebrow raised inquisitively, he inquired after his patient.

"Well, I see someone's had a busy afternoon. Saa, Kuro-pon, what did you say to make Sakura-chan act like that? Ever since she helped me carry you upstairs last night she'd been moping around..." He meditated on this for a second, ridiculous smile ever-present. "Ah, well. Some mysterious of the world will never be solved, I suppose."

Just before turning to head back downstairs, the magician stopped and said, "Sakura-chan's a real go-getter, isn't she? Whatever she does, you know her whole heart's in it."

He shut the door.

Well, wasn't that just damn cryptic.

Kurogane had better things to do than tease secrets out of mages. A better application of his time would be spent honing his skills with Sohi, gleaning information down at the cafe, sneaking around the seedier parts of town, looking for the source of the oni. But, he found rather quickly that when you're all bandaged up with nowhere to go (nowhere, at least, that did not force you to incur great physical pain in the getting there) you have a lot of time to think.

So, think he did. Alone in the dark, he thought.

And eventually, after all that thinking and wondering why, he came up with a conclusion. And from that conclusion, he came up with a plan.

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Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it!

--cy.


	5. Heartless

Whatever it takes, huh?

Well, he could work with that.

Sakura wiped the last grains of sleep out of her eyes before descending the stairs. She couldn't fathom why, but it always felt like she hadn't slept enough, even after she had slumbered for days. It had something to do with her feathers, that was for sure. Maybe some day she'd be able to stay awake for a decent amount of time...

Yawning, the girl walked across the deserted first floor of the Cat's Eye. This was the typical state of the cafe in the early morning: most oni hunters were out late at night and wouldn't push themselves to wake up early after a hard night's work. It worked out well; shop owners had ample time to prepare their wares before the first rush of the day.

Still groggy, she was about to open the door to the kitchen to start mixing batter for cakes when she heard the sound of a chair scraping behind her. She started, having been completely unaware of another person's presence.

Kurogane sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Looks like we have a lot of work to do, princess."

Sakura was still too shocked from the surprise of seeing the ninja up to make any intelligible reply. Kurogane sported his usual apparel, though near the neckline the bandages from their previous adventure with oni were visible. He winced almost undiscernibly as he moved through the chairs.

"If I were an enemy, chances are you would be either abducted or severely injured by now. What could you have done differently to prevent this?"

Sakura swallowed, not liking the scene that Kurogane described, but her mind spun off into imaging solutions before she could dwell on the unpleasantness long.

"Noticing you, then either hiding or defending myself after that."

Kurogane tsked, beating a tattoo with his fingers against a table top. "You forgot striking first."

Sakura shook her head. "I wouldn't do that. I couldn't be sure if you were an enemy if I made the first attack."

"If I was muttering diabolical plans to hurt you and you overhead me, then would you attack?"

"No."

"If I was brandishing a weapon as I did this?"

"No. You could still have a change of heart."

The ninja shook his head in disbelief. Sakura took this opportunity to ask him something in return, now that she was sufficiently less sleepy.

"Kurogane-san? Why are you asking me these things so early in the morning? And also, you shouldn't be out of bed yet, you must be tired..."

"I'm fine," was the curt response.

The sun was slowly poking through the trees outside the window, throwing rays through the room. The ninja moved, breaking the lines of light.

"You need to learn to defend yourself if you want to be of use in fighting oni with me."

It was a lie. He wouldn't let her see it, but it was an utter lie.

Sakura nearly toppled a table over in her excitement. She rushed headlong to where Kurogane was, and caught him up in a whole-hearted hug. The ninja's body stiffened at this sudden onslaught of teenage girl, unsure exactly how to handle the situation. He felt false and hollow, and all sorts of other dishonest things at her touch. He showed nothing of this on his face.

"I knew I could help you somehow, Kurogane-san! Thank you so much for letting me!" At once she drew back, serious, one of her small hands clenched into a determined fist. "I promise to work my hardest and do my best to be a good student."

Kurogane, still taken aback from the embrace and lost in wondering and guilt, nodded and withdrew silently to the roof. Sakura, on the other hand, set to her work in the kitchen with more than usual vigor, throwing herself into everything that she baked.

It was a busy day at the Cat's Eye when Kurogane re-entered. Oni hunters from various teams crowded the tables and lined up at the counter, eagerly inspecting the latest concoctions on view in the glass cases at the counter. Navigating the tables was a tricky task, as half the people he passed didn't pay attention to make room for him to squeeze between tables and the other half wanted to strike up conversation and find out how he'd dispatched so many oni when they saw him last. Some wanted to know about his newest partner. A few inquired about the kid. He shrugged their questions off, all of them.

Getting behind the counter presented new challenges. No one wanted to abandon their spot in line or stop oogling the pastries, so getting to the swinging door that would admit him behind the counter, where Sakura was working was tricky. Kurogane, therefore, took great pleasure in elbowing forcibly past the customers.

Sakura, he found, was hastily but elegantly tying ribbons on boxes for customers that wished to take the cafe's treats with them on the go. She was happily waving a young pair of schoolgirls off when Kurogane reached her.

"Hello, Kurogane-san," she said jovially, without turning her head to look at him.

Kurogane arched an eyebrow and frowned. "Did I really make so much noise in cutting through the line?"

"No. You just...have this presence." She closed her eyes. "It's so strange. I know you're right here, but I can feel that you're here, too. It's like I can sense where people I care about are."

Kurogane's breath caught at the admission. Inwardly, his stomach churned. Luckily, Sakura burst into a fit of furious blushing before she could notice the effect her words had had.

"Oh no! I didn't mean it that way! I just meant as friends! You know, like Fai-san, or Mokona-chan! I mean, I definitely wouldn't be able to do that sort of thing for strangers, no way!"

"You can sense other people's feelings, right?" Kurogane asked after a pause, not sure whether he wanted to know the answer or not.

"Well, yes. Though it's hard to say..." The girl wrapped another package for waiting costumers and gave the question some thought. "It's harder when people hide their feelings, or bury them deep within themselves. I can feel that that's what they're doing, hiding things, but I can't sense what it is exactly they're hiding." She tied the bow with a nice flourish and handed the box away with a grin and thanked the recipients for their compliments on her cooking.

Her face fell. "Fai-san does that a lot."

Kurogane was unsurprised. The damn mage definitely had something to hide. He'd known this from the first day.

"You do, too, Kurogane-san."

Damn straight he did. A true ninja never revealed their motives to any one person completely, and he wanted it to stay that way, especially when the princess had been so much on target before. But how to explain the cake? Had he had a lapse in concealing things? He couldn't let something like that happen again. not now.

"Sensing enemies works much the same way. Come out to the courtyard."

Sakura nodded.

A few minutes passed, and eventually the girl closed the door leading outside. The ninja was nowhere to be seen. Sakura's carefree expression faded away, replaced by one of concentration. This must be some sort of test. She closed her eyes, trying to pinpoint where Kurogane was. He felt...nearby. Wait, he was right--

Just before she opened her eyes, a hand grasped her shoulder. Sakura gave a startled cry.

"You need to locate your opponent faster." Kurogane instructed. "You also shouldn't close your eyes. Learn to sense people without losing sight of them. Otherwise you give them an opportunity to attack you offguard."

"Right." Sakura nodded, determined to make up for the failure.

"Alright, we'll try this again."

He was in his element. Hiding in various places, like shrubs, the roof, even once in the lake, Kurogane at last felt some semblance of his life before going on this crazy trip through space and time returning to him. This was what he had been trained to do, this was what he lived for. And, for the moment, he even managed to forget the horrible feeling gnawing at his gut. He was, for the time, enjoying himself. This had been his job, his life.

Several turns later, Sakura had learned to successfully identify where a person was within the span of a few seconds. Kurogane was pleased with her progress, though he refused to show it. The princess had grasped this particular skill with far greater ease than the kid, who, as Kurogane thought back on his students, had passable knowledge of how to sense an oncoming attacker, but nothing to write home about.

As their lesson wound down, the feeling came back and he was reminded of his purpose in teaching Sakura. The purpose behind the exercise wasn't to make Sakura more useful in fighting oni. Kurogane might have had a slip previously in fighting, but he was more than prepared to do battle with anything that this world had to offer.

The turth was that, frankly, there was no reason that Sakura should have to contribute to the offensive. In fact, she handicapped him. Being unable to hold off an attack for even a moment, made her a quantity constantly requiring protection and attention. He couldn't have her present an easy target for their enemies. His mind was always divided between her and the battle, which was something he couldn't have- he needed to throw himself into a fight, give everything he had against an enemy, not worry about the safety of his charge.

Back on Nihon, they'd done things right. Let him slice and dice intruders on the roof or in the moat while Princess Tomoyo was well-protected by her honor guard. Sakura knew nothing of self defense and had no one but him to block oncoming attacks. At least the kid had some chance of surviving a blow. The princess, though, doubtful. There were other worlds than these, and he knew for certain that there would be other, more clever attackers that wouldn't hesitate to go for the weakest link. And currently, that link was Sakura.

He couldn't afford to be distracted any longer.

They parted ways, he to the roof once more and she to the cafe. He felt like someone had dropped a lead weight on his shoulders, when he didn't tell her his whole plan, but he soldiered on. It had to be done.

She thought she was going to help him in their work. Well, she was half-right. She would be helping him. She be most helpful when she was out of his way and out of his mind. It was a cold and efficient strategy, and nothing less than what he was: a ninja above all, unfeeling and ruthless.

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**Author's Note:**

Oh no! Kuro-min, what have you done, you crazy ninja? What happens if Sakura finds out about your plan? And whatever happened to Fai this chapter? So many questions! So many things to write about next time! A more pressing matter, though: I'm sort of up in the air about what weapon Kuro-pon should start Sakura off learning...hmm...any suggestions? I'd like to think a katana, but maybe something simpler? Shuriken?

Anyway, thanks as always for your reviews! I'm having a lot of fun writing this. Hope everyone had a great winter break, Christmas, New Year, and all other recent holidays!

--cy.


	6. Wash Out

"And while you were out you missed this guy with a great big bushy beard! You had to be there to see it! Ah well, training with Kuro-run, I know. Saa, but Sakura-chan, you had to be there to see it! He ordered a box of coffeecake muffins and a toffee frappe, and then...Sakura-chan?"

It was mid-morning at the Cat's Eye and the cafe's premier chefs were busily cooking up delectable dishes for the day. Fai had been merrily pouring batter into a cupcake pan, his easy grace allowing him to direct the batter perfectly into the slots without needing to pay much attention to it as he chatted. Mokona sat perched on his white chef's hat, a fun addition Fai'd taken to wearing while he cooked. Sakura, too, had been helping, mixing up batter for another batch of cupcakes. At least, that was what Fai had thought she was doing.

In the imperfect reality, however, once the mage realized that Sakura had fallen asleep, her head had already tilted forward into the batter she'd been working on.

Fai sighed good-naturedly and gently removed the bowl, then began the delicate process of rinsing the sticky mess out of the girl's brown hair. She shivered unconsciously when he first took a wet towel to her hair, but did not awaken. Eventually, he finished and ended up with a very wet-headed Sakura. Wrapping another, dry towel around her head so that she wouldn't catch cold in her slumber, he carried her still sleeping form up the stairs and to her quarters.

He passed Kurogane coming downstairs on the way.

"Ah, Kuro-rin, good morning. I don't think Sakura-chan's going to be up for oni hunting today."

Kurogane frowned, his typical response to much of what Fai said..

He wasn't in much condition to go out oni hunting anyway. His shoulder blades felt as though lines of fire ran up and down them whenever he swung Sohi with any amount of vigor. Hiding and general sneaking around seemed to be within his limits, though.

Training Sakura had been an excellent pretense for him to recover from their last encounter with oni without letting the rest of the group know about his condition. It had been worse enough that he'd collapsed on the stairs and people had noticed. The wounds on his back, he discovered, during his inspection of them this morning, had faded to a dull, rust color, but still shot shivers of pain through his spine when he touched them. Must be something to do with nerves. The mage or the kid must had mentioned them once, but for the life of him Kurogane couldn't image how they worked. He knew the bleeding had stopped, the pain remained: getting better, but still healing. You didn't need a scientist to tell you that.

Still, though, Kurogane didn't much like the sound of having to stay around the cafe for a while until the lacerations healed more, but there was nothing to be done. At least being with Sakura had helped to divert some of his boredom. Now that she was asleep, well, things were going to get a lot less exciting. And, considering that they hadn't been that exciting to begin with--sure, he got to kill things, but was he any closer to finding out about the source of the oni? No. -- it was looking pretty bad for Kurogane.

A dull rain began trickling down the windows.

"Well, can't you wake her up? We have important things to do." Important ninja things, stuff that a magician like you wouldn't understand.

Fai shook his head. "Kuro-muu, you know how hard she is to wake up when she falls asleep. Besides," he mused, looking down at the girl in his arms, "I'm pretty well versed on magically induced slumbers, and I know that it's generally a bad idea to wake someone up from one. You'd do better to wait it out."

Kurogane frowned. That mage _would_ know, wouldn't he?

But, having to endure a day full of boredom? The princess did need to sleep, though...but...she made things interesting. Without her, everything faded to lifeless colors and left him stranded on a murky sea of mundane tasks.

He bit back his comment, curling his lip in frustration. Why did this even matter to him? He was a ninja of Princess Tomoyo's guard. He could endure boredom--how many times had he needed to be present at social occasions, grand balls, and be attentive for possible attackers? This new girl hadn't changed a thing about him. Why should she cause him to behave differently?

"Fine." A pause. "And stop calling me by those damned nicknames!"

And with that, the ninja was about to turn back and ascend the stairs when Fai called out. "Hey, wait, Kuro--" He let the last word hang in midair, as though debating. Kurogane glared at him.

"What?"

Fai deposited Sakura on her bed, tucked her in delicately, and then reemerged, holding out a piece of paper. "Here," he said, handing it to Kurogane. "We need these things for the cafe today. I didn't realize how low we were on supplies until this morning. I was going to go out and get them myself, but now that Sakura's out for the count, I'm going to be too busy. We still need them, though, so that's where you come in."

So, when he couldn't fight, he was reduced to being the fetch-and-carry ninja? Was that it?

"Come back with everything on the list, Big Puppy-san!" Fai waved, as he departed into the bleak scape of the city.

Apparently so.

The dull and dreary greys and browns matched his mood perfectly.

Sakura stirred, her slumber troubled. Slowly, groggily opening her eyes, she peered through the darkness to ascertain her location. She frequently fell asleep one place and woke up in another, so she wasn't surprised to find that she had resumed consciousness nestled into her bed. What she was surprised about was the sound coming from the other room.

Her brow furrowed and she listened more closely. It sounded like someone was in pain...

Gingerly cracking the door ajar, she scouted the hallway. No one was there, but the noise seemed to be coming from...Syaoran's bedroom?

On tip-toe, careful not to make much noise on the creaky wood floor, she inched her way over to the door and peeked in. And, sure enough, there he was.

All pretense of hiding was lost after that. Abandoning everything she'd learnt about discretion and concealment, she dashed into the room, and, perching herself at his bedside like an eager pet canary, watched as the boy slowly came to, hazel eyes at last opening again.

"Syaoran-kun..."

A door slammed somewhere downstairs.

Kurogane was back, soggy from the rain, clutching a brown bag full of groceries. He hated having to do menial tasks. He'd done that sort of thing when he was a trainee, and now, as a full-fledged ninja, it seemed to verge on offensive sending him out to acquire foodstuffs. His hakama, once pristine white, had been reduced to a muddy mess, streaked with earthy swatches from the trek. He'd had the extreme misfortune of having just gotten all the food and been on the way back to cafe when the sky split open in a sudden downpour.

Right now, he wanted nothing more than to march upstairs and dry off. Which, he decided promptly, was exactly what he would do. The damn mage could take care of his own damn groceries.

He felt...weary. Like he'd just completed some great labor or something. It hadn't been that much of an exertion, even. The rain had made it worse: it hadn't been a true thunderstorm, not something that would get him riled up, itching for battle, but a drizzle. A washout of what could have been. He sighed.

On his way to his room, he passed by Sakura's room, and stopped, debating. If she was asleep, he could hazard a visit. He might be a little less swift on his feet since his injury, but he could more than manage sneaking into a sleeping girl's room. He cut that train of thought off right there. Nothing good could come of it.

Instead, he satisfied himself by pressing his ear against the door. As long as she was sleeping soundly, that was all he needed to know.

He closed his eyes, ear firmly against the oak door, concentrating.

Nothing. Not even a peep.

Breath catching, he pushed the door inward slightly. With a cautious glance inside (just in case he'd been wrong), he saw that his earlier conclusion was correct. The creamy sheets and bedspread definitely looked like they'd been slept in, and then left in a hurry, the occupant not bothering to rearrange them or make the bed. A lump rose in his throat. Had she been kidnapped? He cursed himself for not thinking about this before. The people that were after Sakura would do anything for her feathers-- let alone the princess herself...

He was well on his way to bolting down the stairs to the kitchens to firstly, berate the mage and second, start searching for likely snatchers, and would have, had he not heard the voice coming from across the hall.

Sakura.

He exhaled and felt himself relax. This was a short-lived reprise, as soon as he realized where her voice was coming from.

Creaking open the door of Syaoran's room just a little more than it already was to afford himself a better view of what was happening, he peeped in. She did care about the kid an awful lot. Hadn't they been something of a pair back on their world? Kurogane had never been one for gossip about lovers, or love at all, really, but it didn't take a genius to figure out from the kid's angsting and constantly masking his sadness around the girl that he liked her.

Which was fine. Perfectly fine. The kid was well within his rights to like whomever he pleased. It wasn't the ninja's place into interfere in that. He was, though, having considerable difficulty unclenching his hands, which had somehow become balled into angry fists.

Something was going on. Sakura said something, smiled. Typical, he rationalized. Then, the kid did something that took him completely by surprise.

"Syaoran-kun, you're awake! I'm so glad! We were really worried about you." She smiled, the sincerity of her gaze clearly appreciated by the pair of brown eyes staring back.

"You were worried about me, Sakura-hime?" Syaoran asked, voice still a bit raspy from disuse.

"Of course!" She said earnestly. "You were hurt so badly, and I don't like it when you're in pain." Smiling sweetly, she inquired, "Do you need anything from dow--"

The rest of her question was lost as, at that moment, in a motion that must have been painful to his sore rib cage, Syaoran sat up and pulled her into an embrace.

"Thank you, Sakura-hime."

Kurogane stood there, door ajar, not even trying to hide the fact that he was now obviously intruding on something that had probably been meant to be private. He hadn't thought that he made a sound, but something caused Sakura to turn around. Her mouth formed the shape of a perfect "o".

Droplets of water trickled from his hair down his face in the silence. His clothes, still limp and muddy, trailed streaks of water across the floor as he approached the kid. He still was quite an intimidating sight to see at one's bedside, even soaking wet.

"You're awake, I see."

He was not sure exactly whom this was addressed to. Syaoran took it to mean him, and was on the verge of responding, when Kurogane gave a curt nod, not trusting himself with anything further, and departed.

At his own door, as he unlocked it he noticed, out of the corner of his eye, Sakura scurrying downstairs. Or back to her room. It didn't matter, as long as she was away. Kurogane entered his own quarters, got about half-way to the ladder he'd constructed for easy access to the roof, and slunk to the hardwood floor in one fluid motion.

He knew that a certain brown-haired kid didn't deserve the malicious thoughts he had about him for the next few minutes. He knew that he was a mess, sopping puddles from his outdoor excursion into the floor. He didn't care. He sopped on the floor, and he thought the thoughts anyway.

And he was not one jot less miserable.

* * *

Thanks for the reviews! Special thanks to Karuri I'm really glad you like this. I'm having fun writing it, and as long as someone enjoys reading it, then I've done my job. See you!

--cy.


	7. Midnights and Musings

He didn't know for how long he'd been out, but his side ached from having spent some considerable time lying on the hard floor. With a muffled groan, he collected himself, stood, and peered through the crack in the door. Voices floated up the staircase to him, and he could make out excited shapes rushing around the cafe floor.

Kurogane checked out the window to see what time it was, as it seemed too early for Fai to be getting up for his morning routines and he doubted that the magician regularly cooked and danced at the same time. Though, considering that this was Fai he was talking about...he paused and gave the idea some serious thought.

A quick glance beyond the curtains told him that it was indeed still very late in the evening. Well, that cut the dancing chef out of the picture. But then what was happening downstairs?

Had someone broken in? He dismissed the possibility. Why would the voices seem so happy if they were being robbed? His companions were strange, but not so much that they would welcome thieves and give them a tour of the place. Could it be an assassination? But why did it sound so _joyful_? He berated himself for even considering that. What other reason would there be to be up late at-- Kurogane stopped for a moment, transfixed by a thought, then, a grimace firmly in place as he came up with another, infinitely more likely situation, he swept down the stairs.

As it turned out, he was right.

A pink blur darted past him as he made his first foray across the Cat's Eye's main floor, closely followed by a larger, much taller, white shape. Somewhere to the side, a sluggish brown mass tried to follow their movements, with little success.

"Big Puppy-san! Come join the fun!" drifted the melodious and amicable voice of Fai, as he continued to chase Sakura around the room. The girl wove through the tables and chairs with graceful ease, giggling as she ducked under a table every once in a while to throw her pursuer off track. Kurogane glanced at the cafe counter. A few bottles of sake stood at attention, surrounded by several glasses.

He frowned irritably. Then, he knew what he had to do.

Grabbing the mage by his collar, he pulled him out of the path he was following through the tables. There was some resistance, but eventually he complied.

"Oh, Kuro-pin, you always spoil my fun." Fai pouted, still struggling playfully after the girl, yet unable to break Kurogane's firm grip on his neck. "All we wanted to do was to celebrate a successful week and Syaoran-kun's speedy recovery!"

Kurogane threw a glance at the brown lump, who was hastily trying to pick up the chase where Fai had been forced to leave off. Sakura, though, was proving too agile for her new playmate, and, to make things worse, Syaoran's depth perception appeared to be significantly affected by drink, causing him to frequently knock into tables. Kurogane doubted very much that this sort of behavior would be terribly beneficial to the boy's continued recovery.

"You don't have to do this every single week, you idiot. I've had enough of chasing you down and picking up after your goddamned messes while you sleep it off." The words were harsh on his tongue, as his eyes followed the two free shapes, brown and pink, as they ran their course around the room.

"But, Kuro-ruu! Think of the children!"

"I am thinking of them. I'm thinking of how horrible an influence you are on them. This is over. Haul your sorry ass up to your room now and I'll be sure to bring this up again and yell at you tomorrow when you start making sense again." He paused. "Or when you're less drunk, anyway." He hustled the mage up the stairs and made sure he heard the click of the door before turning his back. Well, that was one down, two more to go.

Collecting Syaoran was easy. As the kid could barely keep pace with Sakura, let alone outrun a full-fledged ninja, Kurogane made quick work of him. Syaoran's constant entreaties for swordsmanship lessons aside--why the kid would even be thinking about that when retaining balance was much more of a pressing issue for him was beyond Kurogane-- he proved to be a fairly easy, albeit annoying catch. He'd brought the kid upstairs after Syaoran had collapsed, whether from too much liquor or over-exertion when still recovering, and made sure to lock the boy's door.

Honestly, if the kid could just learn to move a little faster, maybe he could have given him a run for his money. It's not like he was slow or a hindrance in battle or anything like that, but agility, as his most recent injury had shown, was not his absolute best quality.

Sakura was another story

Darting and sliding around the counters, over chairs, and surpassing any obstacle that came her way, the princess was a pink blur wooshing amongst the tablecloths and tiles. Kurogane watched her progress with a mix of vexation and begrudging satisfaction. He hated the fact that she was running amok in the cafe at odd hours of the night, but couldn't say that she wasn't putting into practice what he'd taught her about movement.

He sighed. Curse that wizard for bringing back sake on a night like this.

He was tired. It was late. Why did he have to be the only responsible one around to deal with this? At Shirasaki, other people were willing to step up and look after things when it got too strenuous for one person to handle without reprieve. Here, it seemed like he was the only around to restore order whenever everyone else went nuts. What would happen when his need for a break surpassed his willingness to keep people in order or, if he finally lost it himself? Would there be anyone to pick up the pieces? Gods, what he would have given for a time when he was free of these people...

And with that thought still resounding in his mind, he went into action.

He adopted a strategy of knocking over certain tables and moving things that would impede movement and limit the places that the girl could run to, but to Sakura, things were just the same as when Fai had been chasing her. She giggled and eluded his movements, keeping one step ahead of his reach.

Eventually, though, he began to close the net of tables and chairs, narrowing the accessible area bit by bit, siphoning off little slivers of its radius so that the princess wouldn't realize what was going on. Kurogane was of the belief that he could have reached the same goal by simply moving faster and grabbing the girl, but he wanted he to exhaust herself. This would lessen the likelihood of her making a second run later, which, Kurogane knew from first-hand experience, was a real possibility.

Finally, he managed to acquire a position close enough to her to grab her about the middle--a fairly safe place, he reasoned, but also secure enough that he would be confident that she wouldn't slip away. Sakura struggled half-heartedly against him, then wobbled a bit as Kurogane tried to escort her back to her quarters.

Just when they reached the stairs, she abruptly lost her balance, and had it not been for the ninja's quick reflexes she might have ended up as a frilly, dizzy heap on the floor. She did, however, end up as a frilly, dizzy heap in her companion's arms.

Kurogane hastily wrapped an arm around her waist, and did his best to help steady her, as she seemed to still tremble slightly from her run and the sake. As he did this, he couldn't help but notice how the contours of her body struck fire through his fingertips as she breathed in and exhaled slowly, face still flushed from the effort of the chase.

What was he thinking?

He was on the verge of relinquishing his hold and storming upstairs to fume at his lack of self-control when she tottered to the side again. Putting all thoughts not pertaining to finally getting away from this situation out of his head, he scooped the limp, slightly woozy princess up and began carrying her to her room. Near the top stair, he heard a faint voice.

"Kurogane-san?" She sounded exhausted, like someone who's just given their last ounce of strength and has nothing more to spare. Her eyelids lingered between closed and half-closed stages, and her breathing was easy. Yet, her features still portrayed an unmasked sense of contentment. To Kurogane, she seemed the very picture of comfortable repose.

"Yeah?"

"Why do cats and dogs run after each other?"

Kurogane's eyebrow raised in a look of abject confusion. So what did she think she'd gain by waxing philosophical with a ninja? He saw her eyelids droop and remain shut for longer periods of time. They reached her door, which Kurogane deftly opened without jarring the bundle of girl he was carrying.

"It's just their nature. Dogs and cats never did tend to get along very well, at least, not in my world."

Sakura's brow furrowed in concentration, or maybe confusion, as he gently deposited her onto her sheets and slowly wrapped her coverlets around her. She looked as though she was on the verge of saying something terribly important, something that she absolutely must not forget or fall asleep before broaching...

"But couldn't there be some cats and dogs that didn't fight? Couldn't some just--" she yawned widely as he tucked her in "--be friends?"

Kurogane stepped back, shadows at the point of engulfing him as he made his way out. "Anything's possible. There must be some out there that are, though they'd be pretty rare."

If he'd stayed a moment longer, he would have seen the worry wash off her features, her lips spread into a small smile, and her face gradually slip into the sleep of the just as her breathing slower and became regular. If he'd chanced a glance back, he might have noticed the effect his words had on her, or the way her hair splayed intricately out on the pillow, or how the soft light from the nightstand illuminated her in a golden glow before he turned it off on his way out. Had he really looked, he would have seen so many things, the answers to so many questions,questions that everyone in the universe it seemed wanted to know, and questions that one person was too afraid to ask. For a single moment, it was all there.

However, Kurogane didn't stay a moment longer, or steal a fleeting glance as he shut the door, or notice these things. He merely closed the door and was on his way up the rest of the stairs to get either to his room or the roof, when he was met with a very unpleasant surprise.

"Kuro-pon!"

Kurogane could feel a headache blossoming through his mind. No, not this again...

Fai D. Flowright waved at him merrily from the landing, swaying from side to side as he did so.

Crap. He must have forgotten to lock the damned door.

With a groan of fatigue, he stuffed the still-tipsy mage back from whence he came and then thrust the lock in the door with more force than was absolutely necessary. Slumping down the stairs back to the cafe floor, he then began the long process of righting tables and disposing of excess sake, eventually becoming too tired to do any more. His crimson eyes followed the flickering light from candles and lanterns outside and, as his mind drifted off into thoughts about what the changing shapes might mean, he gradually fell into a much-needed slumber.

* * *

Thanks for reading! I'm currently feeling kind of sick (stomach flu) so it might be a bit of a delay on the next chapter.

**KuroSaku** :: Thanks very much! That's a high compliment to receive.

**Karuri** :: He's wonderful. Having him around makes writing character interactions a lot more fun. Thanks!

Until next time,

--cy.


	8. A Likeness of Spirit

While it is generally not probable to find a sleeping ninja outside your door, the possibility still exists, however unlikely it is to actually occur. As a rule, proper ninjas are much better disguised and have much better things to do than hide outside your doors, and for the most part, when they do decide to stake out an entrance, they'll do it more subtly. It goes without saying that falling asleep on the job for them is out of the question. Kurogane, asleep outside the princess's room, did not look anything like a proper ninja.

Nonetheless, it was a grand gesture. And, if the spirit of the thing stopped mattering, what use was anything at all?

He was lucky, in some ways, that the first voice he heard was just Mokona.

"Kurogane-san! What's wrong? Mokona dreamt about a thunderstorm last night with huge bangs and crashes--things were so loud!"

The small white creature found its way up one of Kurogane's groggy limbs and, scaling it, made its way to his head to nestle in his hair before he could displace it. He tried a weak-hearted attempt to swat it away, before groaning softly and reclining further against the door, causing the wood to issue a slight creak.

It would be so easy just to fall asleep again and forget about all of this...all about last night and the day before...

"Kurogane-san? Are you awake?" Came the ever-perky voice. "Kurogane-san! You've got to get up!"

Kurogane said something very inappropriate that was either so incoherent that Mokona couldn't understand or so trivial compared to the danger that they were in that the ball of fluff merely chose not to notice.

"Something terrible's happened! You have to come help!"

Perfect timing. The world always had to start ending when the ninja needed a nap, didn't it?

And so, with herculean effort, Kurogane pried himself up off the floor, went downstairs to the cafe at the urgings of the white pork bun and saw...

"Look! Mokona thinks that an oni broke in and that scary people have been trying to hurt us while we slept! Everything's a mess!"

The ninja sat at a (mostly clean, actually) table, stepping over a few empty sake bottles on the floor to do so, cradling his head in his hands. Hadn't the manjuu been sleeping, or something last night? Syaoran had once told him how that idiot creature was like a device of some sort that ran on these strange, small, cylindrical things that needed to be taken out every once in a while and replaced with new ones to make it work right. Fai had just said that it was another magical slumber. Kurogane was too tired to give a damn who was right, and could have done with a nice, long magical slumber himself right about now...

"What time is it?" He asked, running a hair through his hair tersely.

Mokona gave him a funny look, as if he were making jokes on purpose. "Oh, Kurogane-san! It's Mokona's wake-up time! You know Mokona always wakes up at five o'clock sharp!"

Fai D. Flowright has been awoken by a lot of strange things. It's one of the professional hazards of being a wizard. A spell might be set to trigger an alarm if someone crosses over a boundary, an enchantment could go awry, someone might wake him to ask a favor, or his country could suddenly come under siege. Despite these odd circumstances for regaining consciousness, he had never fathomed that he would be awoken by the sound of a hefty pan smacking into a wall. It wasn't because they didn't have enough pans and walls back in Celes country for it to happen, it was just...terribly unlikely.

One of the other things that did not frequently happen to him was being locked in his room. He frowned, mind still spinning a little from last night, shrugged, and then, with a resolute grin in place, set to work at the door.

You didn't keep a wizard locked up for long.

"You little--! How can you stand to get up at such obscene hours!"

"Aaaahhh! Mokona waking Kurogane-san up in the face of danger is no reason to hit Mokona with a pan! Waaah!" The white fluff evaded another blow, just in time for the pan to make friends with the wall for a second time. Unfortunately, this friendship wasn't a very healthy one, as it had left the kitchen wall with two rather sizable dents.

Kurogane probably wouldn't have reacted so violently had it not been for the comment about the state of the downstairs. He'd made an honest attempt to clean the shelves and counters last night--couldn't he get some appreciation for that feat? He was dead tired already--why did no one seem to recognize things that he did as important? It wasn't like they were the ones going around and defeating the oni to keep them in business or keeping a clear head when sake was around, was it?

"I've had enough of this from you--"

"Oh, good morning, Mokona! Ah, Kurogane-san, are you cooking this morning, too?"

...

He decided that taking her shopping for oni-hunting gear might be a good way to get the early events of the day off her mind. Also, he didn't want to be in the kitchen when the mage woke up.

Sakura seemed energetic enough, though. Had she seemed taken aback when the same man she'd caught abusing walls with a kitchen implement had asked her to spend the afternoon with him? Well, it wasn't quite like that. He'd more or less told her (forcibly) that they were going to get her a sword today (like it or not) and that she would (without question), as a part of the aforementioned "they", be accompanying him in the endeavor.

Still, here she was. Birds flitting from lampposts to tree tops flew out of their way and, as the crowds parted, they made quite the pair. Sakura, resplendent in pinks and frills, chatted sociably to her austere companion, who in turn was clad in black once more with his hands stuffed into his pockets, eyes ever wary of the stares of passersby.

Much as he hated to admit it, it was almost an enjoyable way to spend his time. He didn't often get to take a break from his duties.

"So where are we going, Kurogane-san?"

This was a good question. Crap, where had they met up with the sword guy before? Kurogane was starting to wish that he'd planned this trip out a bit better. He was surely going to look like a fool.

Luckily, after a bit of wandering around in the square and some forced window shopping as Kurogane surveyed the area without arousing too much suspicion, he was met with some degree of success. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the old man at his stall, taking out small bag of bread crumbs and seeds as he began to feed the birds.

"Come on." He grasped Sakura's arm below the shoulder gently, though not without a hint of persuasive force. By the time they got to the stall, a flock of pigeons and assorted doves had settled around the area, eagerly consuming the seeds.

"Hey, you. I need a sword."

The old man looked up, squinting in the bright daylight.

"You've already got one." He concluded after a brief examination and returned to his task.

Kurogane tched. "No, for her."

"Yes, please." Sakura nodded, bowing respectfully.

"Ah." He looked at Sakura quizzically for a long moment, then reached behind him, snapping his fingers at an attendant. "You have not used a sword before, have you?"

She shook her head, lace bobbing frantically in the motion. Kurogane wished that she would have tried to look more warrior-like. Or even a little fierce. Asking for a weapon for her was like trying to equip a fancy porcelain doll with a knife. It didn't work. And it just looked...creepy. Nevertheless, the old man's attendant reemerged, carrying a neat bundle.

"Very well. Then perhaps you will find use of this then. You seem to share a likeness of spirit with it." He handed her the thin package delicately. "Its name is Aki no Kaze."

She nodded, gently took hold of it, and slowly unwrapped some of it as Kurogane paid for the purchase.

"Don't do that." He said, not even looking up.

"Hmm? It doesn't like being so tightly bound, though."

Kurogane sighed and held a hand to his forehead as they departed. Of course. Naturally, little miss I-know-what-everything-is-feeling would attune herself to the longings of her sword.

"Well, we're all done here. Let's go back."

"Kurogane-san."

"Look, princess, we're done here. Unlike other people we know, I don't want to spend my day loitering around--" He bit back harsher remarks.

"But, Kuro--"

Damn it, why did he not want to go back? He had better things to do than escort Princess Frills about town. "We're going to the Cat's Eye and that's it. Done. Got it?"

The words just about made their way past his lips when he felt the familiar chill and saw the sky darken. The alarmed shouts of civilians began to reach his ears. Okay, so maybe they weren't going back quite yet. The dark shape of a spiked-back oni rose against the shadowed buildings.

Already, he could feel the thrill of battle racing through his veins. This was what he was born for. He spoke, eyes focused on the distance.

"You're nowhere near ready for this. Hold your ground and I'll come get you later."

He didn't hear her reply, if there was one. In a moment, he was level with the creature, slicing, evading, piercing, dashing from cover to cover. He was truly in his element; nothing could distract him now. With a final cleave down the center, he watched the oni split into tiny particles of nothingness. A wild grin spread over his features: victory. They'd won. Except...

The dark claws came at him from behind almost before he recognized their un-presence. He ducked, landing gracelessly on the pavement in a heap. Crap! He hadn't sensed that second one. He tried getting up, only to be halted by his left leg being caught in a crack in the concrete. Gritting his teeth, he searched for his sword, only to find that Sohi had spun off to the side, far out of reach.

He cursed. Gods damn it all! He was a sitting duck! One thought broke through his anger:

Sakura.

His eyes widened. Now that he was unarmed and couldn't move, she'd have no one.

Damn it! He pulled at his stuck leg roughly to no avail. Maybe she'd taken the hint and escaped. He could handle this alone. He was alright with this. Ninjas met their fate face on, unafraid, no matter how dire the situation seemed. And if he didn't come through, at least he'd go down fighting. ...Somehow. There was some honor in that. Tomoyo wouldn't be pleased, but it would be consoling. He was ready.

Yet, the blow he waited for never came.

Kurogane frowned, perturbed that the monster hadn't seen fit to even try and finish him off, and then saw the reason why.

There she was, bold as brass (well, as bold and brassy as anything pink and fluffy can be), standing between him and the oncoming oni. She hadn't even finished taking her sword out of its wrapping yet. Kurogane couldn't believe it. How stupid did you have to get to think you could take on high-level oni?

For a long time, the two combatants simply faced each other: Sakura determined, the oni emotionless. Kurogane cursed and resolved to keep yanking at his leg. That would surely give him a better chance of survival than the farce going on now. What chance did she think she stood against something much more powerful than she? Why did she even bother sticking around? What use was he to her anyway?

Eventually, the downright idiocy of it all was too much for him to handle.

"What are you doing? Get out of there!"

She turned her head part-way, enough to catch him in her periphery and slowly shook her head.

_No. _

He felt a shiver rake up his spine. _What?_

Then, it struck.

In what Kurogane would later classify as a complete stroke of luck, Sakura swung the blade at just the right moment to cut the oni in two clean pieces before it reached him. The creature dissolved in a black mist and faded into the clouds as the light eventually broke through the shadows. Almost anticlimactically, the cherry wallet whirred in his pocket.

She walked back over to him, blade slung over her diminutive shoulder, and, immediately seeing the state of his leg, was no longer Little Kitty, the equal of onis, but once more the same, worried Sakura, fretting over her friends' every little injury.

She had just enough time to express her concern ("Kurogane-san! Your leg!") when suddenly, as though the silence brought on by the oni had been lifted all at once, a great cheer rose up all around them and all further words were lost in the shouts.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Long chapter this time around, guys! Hope you liked it!

For those who were wondering, the name of Sakura's sword, Aki no Kaze, should translate to roughly "Autumn Wind". To those that weren't wondering or didn't care, now you know something more about the story. It's got that elemental feel like Kuro-pon's and Syaoran's, though I suppose Fai is more windy than Sakura-chan I always saw it as being, Fai:Water, Kurogane:Fire, Sakura:Wind, and Syaoran:Earth. Anybody else have an opinion on this? I am now genuinely curious.

Anyway, reviews!

**Karuri** : I always imagine Kuro-pon being much more protective than he lets on. He's so disdainful of protecting people, but I know that he must do it.

**Trevor X** : Thanks for the read!

**Larania Drake** : I like doing that to pairings, especially ones that I myself initially wonder how they could work. Plus, Kurogane and Sakura are undeniably cute together, so they make it work.

Thanks everyone for reading!

* * *


	9. Shatter

The sparse street was instantly crowded. It seemed as thought people flocked to them out forth from the very walls of buildings, cheering and thronging in a great mass around them. Kurogane hoped fervently that they didn't come too much closer--it was hard enough trying to free his leg as it was.

Why on earth were they doing this anyway? It wasn't like crowds popped out of nowhere for every oni hunter when they slew their targets. If that was the case, then Kurogane, having done in so many oni, would probably be on the brink of madness from the constant cheering and far past paranoid by the sudden appearances of throngs of people. Sakura, though, looked enchanted. She waved merrily, albeit somewhat surprisedly, at the onlookers. For her, it was a winning moment.

If Kurogane had been anything like Syaoran, it too would have been a victory. So, Sakura had stepped in at the last minute. Whatever. The day was saved, people were happy, he wasn't beaten up too badly. That was all the mattered.

However, he not was like Syaoran and so the entire thing felt off. He hated being "saved," hated having to rescue and be rescued, just hated working with people, period. And yet, here he was, surrounded by a crowd of them, being assisted out of his predicament by an over-friendly, effusive, way-too-lucky Sakura.

It was, by all accounts, terrrible.

"I don't want your help," he muttered darkly, as the crowd started to press in on them, ready to congratulate the conquering heroes. "Stop that." He said, perhaps a bit too harshly, to Sakura as she tried to help him pry his leg out of the hole.

It was embarrassing enough having a frilly pink girl save you from an oni. He most certainly did not need to have his poor maligned Sohi handed back to him by the person he'd aimed to protect (which she'd done) and on top of that, he hadn't needed to be pulled out of the crevice like some stuck, stuffed plaything of hers, trapped and helpless to free itself until its owner came along.

'Kurogane-san?" She asked tentatively, seeing the expressions flit across his face.

He scowled, fruitlessly struggling against the rocks. At least she'd finally gotten the message. Eventually, the stones shifted and he was able to work his leg free. It was a little scrapped up and the pants leg had some tears, but standing on it had no lingering after-effects.

The crowd, by this time, had whipped itself into an uproar at seeing both heroes standing, and chanted, "Cat's Eye! Cat's Eye!"

Guess someone must have figured out where they were from.

If there was anything that Kurogane truly was, it was realistic. Having been through battle after battle, having lost some and clenched victory from his opponents' grasping fingers in others, he was used to not winning all the time. He tended to win _a lot_ of the time, but he knew that there were some battles he was bound not to. He was used to that. He also knew a stroke of luck when he saw one, and wasn't holding Sakura's fortuitous strike against her. What he was not used to, nor very fond of, was being so helpless.

And he certainly hadn't wanted her to be the one to see him as his worst, unable to defend himself fully at a crucial time. Or, for that matter, unable to protect _her_.

So, when he stormed off, jostling onlookers and bystanders aside as the mass of people continued their cheer, he had somewhat half-hoped, half-dreaded that she wouldn't follow him out. Syaoran would not have.

But, as was readily apparent, Sakura was also not Syaoran. She followed. Which, when he gave it thought later, really shouldn't have been so surprising.

By the time he had gotten to a sufficiently dark and out-of-the-way back alley, far enough from the square and populated areas, he found he could endure it no longer. His leg throbbed belatedly--the rush of battle that had apparently been keeping the pain at bay had dissipated. He turned on his heel, so fast and sudden that it made the trailing princess jump. Everything tore out of him.

"Why? Why do you try so hard? What's the purpose any more? What is it that you want from me?"

"Kurogane-san," she gasped, startled, not sure what question she should be answering first, if any at all. "I just want to help. I want to be frien-"

He rolled his eyes disdainfully. "Oh, friendship, is that it? You always want to be with people, solving their problems for them, getting close to them, understanding their feelings. Well, look," he said, stopping his pacing and giving her a steady unrelenting stare, "you can't solve my problems that way. In fact, I really doubt you can solve them at all. I don't want anyone, not that stupid wizard, that damn pork bun, the kid, and most certainly not you trying to fix me. You can't."

Sakura looked like she was on the verge of saying something desperately important, but Kurogane cut her off before she could utter a single word.

"I don't want to hear it--I've heard it a hundred times before. I've seen your particular brand of friendship. You tell people that it's alright for them to tell you anything, that they can open up to you, because you're someone that they can trust and because you'll understand. You listen as they tell you everything, you provide them with the solution they're waiting for, and then you leave. But when are you ever the one that has to take that chance and open up to someone? When do you put faith in your friends when you need someone to talk to and when do you trust _them_ to tell you what's right when something's wrong? And don't tell me that nothing bothers you. I've seen you tossing and turning in your sleep."

She looked down, brow furrowed. Kurogane often stayed up late to keep watch over the group as they slept. Naturally, he'd have noticed her sleeping habits.

He sighed, getting impatient now. "I'm not the kind of person who gets the happy ending in your fairy tales, princess-- you and I both know that. You already know what kind of person I am. I don't want to be just another good mark on your list of souls saved. What I want now is for you to leave me the hell alone. I can take care of myself."

Sakura, for once, did not behave as he expected her to. He would have though that she'd run after him, cry on his shoulder, beg him to take her back to the cafe, take her out of this place, wear a saddened expression on her face the entire way back until he finally gave in and assured her that they were friends. He, in short, had expected an outburst of emotion. What got was the exact opposite.

She met his gaze, even and unyielding, and held it. Then she turned and left, leaving him, the ninja, the one who was supposed to be in control of this thing, standing in her wake.

What had she...? He shook his head. She hadn't meant anything to him, really. She was better off this way. It had never been anything other than normal, run-of-the-mill friendship she'd wanted between them anyway. Why had it taken so long for him to realize that? If she hadn't seen before that he wasn't the best person to be friends with, she'd certainly see now.

And, as he departed back into the thronging streets in a city where no one knew his name, that one last thought reverberated in his mind.

She'd certainly seen what he was now.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Drama! Action (well not really)! Suspense!

This one gave me a surprising amount of grief to write. This was partially due to FFN failing to save the second half and me not being sure where I wanted the story to go after this. But, I think I'm pretty clear on it now, so yay. Also, hooray for working at a job that lends itself to large quantities of time free for writing.

And now, reviews.

**IceQueen** : It's cool. I'm really glad you like the story! Fai's going to play a big role in the next chapter, which will help explain some things.

**Karuri** : Happy to oblige! As long as people keep reading it and I still know where it's going, I'll keep on writing.

Thanks for the reviews! I love hearing what people think!

'til next time,

-cy.


	10. His Paper Heart I: Summer Nights

"Hey, I brought you lunch."

Kurogane snorted.

Fai, in the mean time, pulled out a small container from one of his pockets and set it down between them.,

Kurogane had not returned to the Cat's Eye the previous night, or the next day. Instead, he'd left a wake of oni carnage through Oto's streets, gaining wealth almost beyond the cherry wallet's capacity to register it and valuable information from the rescued townsfolk. Out of necessity, after almost a full day awake, he found his body desperately craving a rest. So, he had resumed his nightly perch on the cafe roof, either out of habit or some odd magnetic pull, whiling away the hours until the later hours of the night crept on, waiting for more oni. He'd been sure that he hadn't made a single sound, but somehow the mage had known that he'd returned. Kurogane highly doubted that Fai had given up on magic entirely. That was the only way to explain it. Or, as the wizard himself had put it once, perhaps he simply indulged in other forms of sorcery.

"It's not lunch time," he responded grumpily, eying the package. "It's almost eleven-thirty. If it's anything, it's a midnight snack, or a very late dinner."

"Nope, Kuro-tan, that's where you're wrong. I can assure you that it's absolutely and unequivocally lunch."

Kurogane chose to ignore that. "Look, I found something that might help us get out of this damned city."

Fai's interest was piqued. "Oh?"

"I need to go to this bar called Clover. Someone there apparently saw something odd." He gave the magician a sidelong glance. "Someone seems to be controlling the oni, and a person there might know who's behind it."

The mage shook his head ruefully. "Interrogating drunkards. Saa, Kuro-min, this is why you need your lunch! You can't go out bar-hopping without at least having something in your stomach first. And," he continued, adding a note of jovial outrage, "you didn't even invite me along!"

Kurogane gave up arguing; what use was it anyway when you were so tired and had someone that just wouldn't leave you alone? At least if he got this over with, he could get some peace. Maybe sleeping in a tree would have been a better idea after all. The lunch box, all the while, sat placidly beside him on the roof tiles. He thought he caught a wiff of steamed rice. It was...strangely alluring.

He swallowed. He was exhausted and hungry, and that rice, or whatever else was in the box smelled just like what he needed. But he wouldn't let the mage see that.

"I want to ask you something, Kuro-rin."

The ninja folded his arms across his chest and prepared not to listen to a word. Instead, he stared out across the way at the bright streets of Oto, lit against the dark sky with lanterns and streetlights, at the luminous buildings and the golden face of the clocktower, almost a reflection of the moon.

It was night, and a calm night at that.

"What's going on with Sakura-chan? She's seemed really sad lately, and you know that's not like her. I thought since you two had been out training so much together that you might know more about it than I do."

No reply was forthcoming.

Fai sighed, sensing the resistance and deciding not to push his companion for anything more.

"C'mon, Kuro-ruu, your lunch is getting cold."

Kurogane growled and narrowed his eyes. "Don't expect me to eat that. For all I know you've laced it with sugar."

Fai looked slightly deflated, causing Kurogane, starving as he was, to wonder exactly how much sugar _had_ actually gone into the making of the meal.

"You haven't had anything today, have you?"

There was a silence. Then:

"No."

He'd been out slaying oni from dawn until dusk, clobbering anything that got in his path--when did that idiot mage think he would have had time to sit down and eat? There was work to be done, the source of the oni to be found--

Fai gently hugged his knees to his chest and sighed one last time before straightening up, stretching, and resuming a standing position. "Well, Kuro-pon, I'll leave you to your work. Just thought you should know that someone's been worrying about you all day." The wizard cast his eyes meaningfully down at the roof and, specifically, at one of the occupants residing below it.

Kurogane said nothing, trying not to be taken over by the scent of the food and tear into it while that damn magician was still there.

Shrugging and knowing he'd done what he could, Fai climbed back down the lattice on the side of the house, slid in through the window in Kurogane's room (well, the room that was Kurogane's when he chose to sleep in it rather than on the roof to which it easily afforded access), and exited, closing the door quietly behind him.

However, this was not quietly enough, it seemed, for no sooner had he reached the top of the stairs leading back down to the kitchen, where he still had quite a bit of cleaning to do after the last rush of the night, was he accosted by both teenagers.

"Did you see him?" Sakura asked, eyes wide, worried, and hopelessly curious. She hadn't been herself the entire day. Sure, she'd served the customers with her usual happiness and smiles, handing pastry and coffee to those that wanted it, and managing the cash register, but something had been wrong. Fai hadn't worked the entire story out for himself yet, but he could just about put together a pretty coherent picture. Kurogane had felt threatened in someone trying to get too close to him, had done something rash, and Sakura was bearing the burnt of it.

He sighed, all too aware of Syaoran's insistent gaze as well, wondering where his swordsmanship instructor had disappeared to and where his next lesson in the art would come from. There were only so many ways one could learn to wield darts, and Fai couldn't spare the time away from the cafe to go over staves with him in any kind of detail.

Syaoran was getting restless.

"Nah, sorry, you two, but there was nothing. I left the lunch you made out on the roof, though, Sakura-chan, so that if he does happen to stop by while we're asleep he'll have something good to eat. Syaoran-kun, you probably ought to turn in. You know what the doctor said about those injuries, don't you?"

Relcuctantly, the boy left for his room, saying his goodnights, then leaving the magician alone with Sakura. Fai sat down on the top stair, and invited the girl to sit down beside him. He still wore his apron, white with the trademark cat's face on the front, and there was still some flour left clinging to the front that he brushed off as he spoke.

"Sakura-chan, I don't know what's bothering you, but I do know that something's wrong. Anyone can see it." She, at this point, had opened her mouth to protest, but Fai would hear none of it. "I want to tell you a story."

He cleared his throat, as though beginning a big undertaking.

"Once upon a time, there was a magician."

Instantly she was enthralled, but remained curious. Sakura had always liked bedtime stories, regardless of her age. "But Fai-san," she inquired, "aren't all your stories about magicians?"

Fai smiled. "The best kind of stories are about magicians! Anyway, Sakura-chan, there once was a magician, who lived in a great castle full of people. Of all these people, there were those that had hearts of stone who weren't really keen on liking anyone; those with hearts of glass, beautiful, but easily breakable; hearts of gold, true and well-meaning to the end," he smiled at her, "and hearts of various other metals and things. I believe," he paused, looking thoughtful, "that there's another story about some shepherd with a heart of cinnamon, but that's a tale for another day."

He thought something shifted on the roof. Maybe it was the wind scraping branches across the tiles. Or, maybe...

"This magician was unique in that, unlike all the others, whose hearts were constructed of fairly resilient materials, he had a heart made of paper. Whenever someone got close enough to him to make an impression on his heart, the slightest action on their part would cause it to tear and rip. Unable to bear this intolerable weakness, he constructed an iron cage for his heart, to protect it from anyone that came along. This worked well for a while, people stayed away, and who wouldn't?" Fai asked, relishing his storyteller role. "Iron is a very intimidating thing."

Sakura, he noticed, seemed somewhat less preoccupied with what had been on her mind so much. Instead, she gave her whole attention to the story, like an inquisitive child on the hunt for some obscure answer. He continued.

"However, over time, iron will rust. Days, months, years passed, and the iron bars grew weaker and weaker. One day, when alone and desolate, pouring over spellbooks day and night in pursuit of his passion, knowledge, the magician quite inadvertently fell in love with the librarian's daughter. She too, returned his feelings, and ventured close to his heart, which she could do, light and graceful as she was. But, because the bars were so old and so covered with rust, as soon as she got near to his heart, the bars crumbled and collapsed, rending the paper into shreds and..."

Fai frowned, pausing, not really wanting to tell her exactly about what else occurred.

"Perhaps not the most uplifting story ever, I suppose." He laughed at himself, shaking his head at the fool attempt.

Sakura, though, was still intrigued. "What happens after that?"

Fai waved his hand dismissively. "What doesn't happen after that in fairy tales? Naturally, the magician must go on some quest involving laurel trees and catch a falling star in order to get his love back, and eventually, somewhere later once he's gone through a great many trials and proven himself, it ends happily ever after, as fairy tales often do."

Checking the clock on the cafe wall, he exclaimed, "Saa, Sakura-chan! Look at the time! If you want to be up to help me get the batter ready tomorrow, you'll need to go to sleep right away! Go on!"

She still seemed caught up in the story, wondering. As though in a dream, she stepped to her door, and turning, considered the floorboards. "Fai-san?"

"Hmm?"

"I hope he comes back."

Fai smiled and ruffed her hair. "Of course he will, Sakura-chan. Now you get some sleep! I can't have you dozing off on me when the morning rush comes around."

She returned his smile and at last retired. She would, he was quite sure, dream of libraries and magicians, of iron and paper, and search for her answer in the realm of the subconscious.

He hoped she found it. Too many times, he himself had searched long and hard, and wound up just as lost as he'd been before.

On the roof, a shadowy figure picked up a small box, undid the wrappings, and looked inside. In the dim light cast by the streetlight in front of the house, it was possible to make out the gleam of freshly cut sashimi, several compartments of rice, and a ginger root tucked in a corner.

It left him speechless.

* * *

**Authorly Note:**

Hello, and thanks for reading! ha ha! Kuro-rin might have an interesting problem on his hands, now! But, I won't give too much away. I love having time to write in the summer.

And, reviews!

**IceQueen** : Thank you! I sometimes have issues with how everyone likes Sakura so much, regardless of what she does, and I wanted to explore that from Kuro-pii's POV. Glad you liked it!

**Asheiyu** : woot! Thanks! I liked SxS a lot better in CCS. In Tsubasa, I don't really ship them that much, which is weird, because when I initially started reading the series I thought they were cute together. If you want more SxK, you should totally check out the C2 that I help to run! It's called The Ninja and the Other Princess, and it's full of good KuroSaku fics. Also, you should try writing your own, too! We need more!

Anyway, until next time! I love hearing what you guys think, so please drop me a review and let me know!

* * *


	11. The Long Goodbye

The pale morning light brightened and dimmed, slowly spilling into her room through the translucent philtre of the window panes. It sent sparkles through her hair and became stark and severe against white sheets.

A gust of wind ruffled her bedclothes and swept cherry blossoms through the open window across the sill. Rustling on the floor was an x-shaped scrap of black fabric.

It had been a bad day from the outset, but this was just the sort of thing it had needed to become infinitely worse. He walked up the stairs sulkily, having found the cafe bereft and empty, locked up. He didn't like it. This either meant that he was going to be ambushed by a surprise welcome-home party or that something terrible had happened to them while he'd been away.

His hand clenched into a fist. Why had he allowed himself to become so distracted, so much so that he needed to remove himself? Couldn't he have foreseen that they were prime targets without his protection, sitting ducks in a sugar shop?

For the first time in his life, he hoped that his first suspicion about the party awaiting him was correct.

It was...dammit, it was too _quiet_. Even at night, when everyone finally turned in and the last of the straggling oni hunters were turned out, the silence wasn't as pervasive as this. Sometimes Fai would gaze out the window, tracing patterns on the glass, Syaoran might read before going to bed, the muffled sound of flipping pages coming from his room, and Sakura's sheets would fold and whisper as she moved around in her slumber. Now, nothing.

He couldn't stand it. On reaching the top of the staircase, he bounded to her room, and threw open the door, much in the same manner of one, who, desirous to know the end of a story without reading the ending, flips violently to the last page just to get the resolution.

He found her lying on her bed, the wind causing the fragrance of cherry blossoms to waft through the room, the petals skittering across the floor. He looked down, inspecting the black shape.

And at once, he knew.

He hadn't wanted it to come to this, however much he detested the mage, was annoyed by Fai's constant intrusions into his life, or was vaguely disturbed when he had walked in on the magician in question waltzing around the kitchen on early morning, his dance partner a whisk. Of all the houses that the oni had to visit... of all the places in this thrice-damned country they could have gone, why did it have to be this house?

Kurogane caught himself chuckling darkly to himself. History just seemed to keep repeating itself, didn't it? He'd been a member of a household attacked by monsters once, and he'd found himself unable to protect it. Now, it had happened again. The first time, he'd cut down line after line of monsters in a blind rage, white fury building behind his eyes, refusing to stop until his wrath had been felt. Now, it looked like the oni of Oto were in for a taste of what Nihon's best could do.

He hoped there were still buildings standing when he was through with them.

There was a sound at the door. Quick as a breath, his sword was out and Sakura was at his back, still oblivious and unconscious in her dreams.

Syaoran had a weary look on his face as he entered. Kurogane lowered Sohi.

"So." He said, not wanting to put the events into words. "Looks like something happened when I was out."

The boy nodded grimly. A white blob that was Mokona clung to his jacket, visibly distressed, with tears on its little cheeks.

"It was my old master, Seishirou-san. I saw him just before he left." Syaoran's eyes fixed downwardly on the dark fabric. "There was nothing I could do. If I'd been there sooner..."

Kurogane was silent. The kid stared at the floor and Kurogane sighed.

"The thing about being a warrior is that you don't always save the day." He went over to the window, inspected it for tracks and traces, then closed it with a snap. "Sometimes, you get there too late. Sometimes, there's nothing you could do. The bad guys win, good people die. Fact of life, kid."

He met Syaoran's hesitant gaze head on. "If you really want to become stronger, you realize that you have to move on. Being the hero isn't always about saving lives and being the one who gets there in the nick of time. Sometimes it's being the one who, defeated and too broken to continue, pushes on anyway, because there's something they need to do and they won't let anything get in the way of that."

Syaoran couldn't meet his eyes anymore. Kurogane, though, was relentless.

"He died because he felt that way. He knew she was too important to give up and, no matter who came calling, he wouldn't have let her go. Now, we have a choice."

The boy's head shot up from the floor, determination set squarely on his face. "I want first shot. He's my old master, Kurogane-san. I have to be the one to do this."

Kurogane cocked an eyebrow. If the kid was serious about this, he'd have already considered that he probably wouldn't be coming back from this battle. If the guy was good enough to have bested Fai, Syaoran didn't stand much of a chance. It would be an insult to ask him if he was prepared for the consequences. Instead, he smiled.

"Sunset. If you're not back by then, I promise nothing. Until that time," Kurogane waved a hand at the window. "he's yours."

Syaoran paused, as though something was bothering him.

"Spit it out, kid."

"If I..." he searched for the right word, "don't come back, and you don't make it, who's going to look after Sakura-hime?"

Kurogane was almost offended at the kid's need to ask that. But, it was a valid question for anyone who hadn't been there that night in Nihon, when he'd allowed the furor of the moment to take him over and wrecked havoc. Kurogane's grin widened.

"She'll have someone to take her from world to world, I give you my word. I will not fail."

And with that somewhat toothy (and a slightly disconcerting) assurance, Syaoran left. Kurogane had known it would be the last time he'd see his first pupil, and he watched Syaoran's departure through the window, until the boy became lost in the crowd, and there was nothing more to see.

The hours passed. And the sun, at last, set.

As he crossed the cafe floor for the final time, a blanket-wrapped Sakura slung over his shoulders, he watched the dust motes speckled white in the evening light prance through the air and reclaim the empty rooms. Outside, he wondered at how the falling blooms could hit the ground with the rising sound of coming thunder. Grey clouds pervaded the sky and blotted out the sun. It seemed like the whole world was waiting for this.

Kurogane found the man he was looking for easily enough. That hadn't been too much of a problem: you just had to go to the spot all the townspeople were avoiding, namely the part with decimated buildings that was feeling the height of the storm, and voila.

He saw the figure in the distance, silhouetted by the sheets of rain, but didn't rush over to him immediately. He found a small overhang, one that seemed relatively stable, not going to collapse with the weight of the water on it, and nestled Sakura under it so she wouldn't get soaked and catch cold during the fight's progress. If he was really the last one left to protect her, then damn straight he was going to do a good job of it.

"So," he said, manic smile in place and unwavering, "it looks like you and I have a score to settle."

The man in the black cloak faced him, and Kurogane was a little unsettled at the sight of the artificial eye. "You must be the last of the escort, I see. Well, then, shall we make a wager?"

Kurogane unsheathed Sohi. The blade seemed to drink in the falling rainwater and glow with an internal brightness. Huh. There might have been something to that old man's shop after all.

"What are we wagering for? I was under the impression that this was to be a battle to the death."

"Oh, it is. I just thought you might like to specify something if you won, as I, expectedly, will take the girl."

Kurogane's smile was back in place and fierce. "There's nothing you have that I won't just as easily be able to pry from your cold, dead fingers as wager for it. We're wasting breath. If you want a duel, let's go."

The man smiled back. The exchange could almost have seemed friendly and warm, if the two hadn't been wishing for each other's demise.

And then, they were off.

"I hope you're not as slow as the oni you were controlling," Kurogane taunted, as he ran up to his opponent, sword by his side, " 'cause those were way too easy to kill."

The man laughed, and dodged the oncoming blow. "I assure you, I'm a bit more of a challenge." With that, he deftly hacked off some of the hakama's cuff.

Kurogane set into the battle in earnest. "It's been a while since I had something more exciting than oni or your student to fight with. I'm going to draw this out."

"Let's hope it's not been long enough for your skills to dull. I would hate to have our fight end early."

Lightning crackled above, white and brilliant against the rolling sky, as swords clashed and blood flew.

"You're not half bad." Kurogane said, tearing off a mostly ripped portion of his robe and tying it quickly around a wound. "I'm enjoying this."

The man reciprocated. "Myself as well." He sighed. "I'm only sorry that I'll have to put an end to it so soon."

"You wish."

They fought on and on, until the sky itself tore open.

"What the--" Kurogane had time to curse, or rather almost curse, before his opponent's eyes widened in recognition. The man then began digging hastily for something in his cloak.

"I regret having to cut this short, but it looks like someone's gotten wise to my game." He pulled out what was unmistakably Sakura's feather. "Alas. And I was having fun, too."

"Hey!" The ninja yelled, his mind putting together what his enemy was going to do. "Only a coward would run."

A ray of light flowed out from the feather, and then another, weaving themselves into a familiar design. "We'll just have to put our fight on hold then. I am anxious for our next meeting."

Then the cage of magic constricted, and Seishirou was gone.

"Damn it!" Kurogane cursed. Now he was alone. He glanced at the overhang. Well, he had the sleeping princess. And the sky seemed to be getting less dark.

Maybe he could explain things to her, tell her that he'd done his best to avenge Syaoran and Fai, and maybe he could find the courage to tell her something else, too...It was odd, bravery had never been something he'd been lacking in, at least, not until recently. She'd probably be distraught over losing their teammates, and what was there that he could say? Would she even still want to be with him afterwards?

"Is that Kuro-pon I see angrily slamming the ground with his fist? Saa, and getting all muddy in his nice white outfit, too."

Kurogane grimaced and squeezed his eyes shut. If there was ever a time for his mind to be playing tricks on him...

"Sakura-hime!" Syaoran's voice called from over his shoulder. Not him, too. But, sure enough, when he opened his eyes there was Syaoran, rushing to the princess' side.

"Kuro-rin! What, did you think we were gone for good? We're not that easy to get rid of." The ever-affable Fai D. Flowright quipped. He slapped Kurogane on the back. "Ugh, look at you, you're soaked. Big Puppy has been out in the rain too long. Is that blood on your sleeve?"

Kurogane shrugged off the question, more in the mood to vent via hacking and slashing than pleasant conversation. He was going to detach himself to do just that before--

"Kurogane?" She said, sounding sleeping and only half-awake.

Woah. He swallowed. Where'd the honorific go?

"Fai-san! And Syaoran-kun! Why is everyone here?" Sakura touched her blankets as she tried to sit up. "Why am I all wet? Oh, Kurogane-san, you came back!"

Of course. She slept through everything. She never had to go through the pain of losing comrades or not knowing what would happen next. Instead, her mind was a beautiful blank, pure and untouched by the miseries that they'd all had to weather. She wouldn't recall his defense of her, or the deaths, only the fact that he'd returned: only the happy memories.

He nodded.

Mokona plopped itself on her shoulder and cuddled. "It's so nice to have everyone back!"

"What have I missed? Are we in a new world?" Sakura looked around at the decimated buildings and rain-washed streets. It must have seemed like a completely different place.

Fai grinned. "Yes and no. Have a seat, Kuro-bun, you're going to want to hear this, too."

And so, the travelers sat and discussed the new world ahead of them, as the sky cleared and Sakura's white blankets flapped in the breeze.

"What?! What the hell is a video game?"

"Well..."

"You hit people and get points!"

"Thank you, Moko-chan. Not quite what I was going to say, but yes."

"You know, I think that was worth a level or so. Why don't we get any experience points after all the oni we killed?"

"Mokona wants to take a level in ranger!"

"..."

"Kurogane-san, why do you look so angry?"

* * *

**Author's Notice:**

And so it goes. Long chapter this time around-- this (hopefully!) makes up for having to wait so long between chapters. Things aren't done yet, though! I've had fun in Oto, but it's time to take this to other worlds. Reviews!

**IceQueen **: Yeah, that seems pretty reasonable. It was originally meant to be Kuro-tan's story, but then I was all...magician! And the thought crossed my mind that it might blur the distinction between the two of them, but I didn't take it out. Oh well. I suppose either way it works, though it was meant for Kuro.

**Karuri** : I imagine that it would take a while for him to admit that someone had actually gotten to him, especially in that way. He's really guarded, physically and emotionally, and I'm trying to make the romance realistic, even though it's a bit iffy if Kuro could actually fall for anyone, canon or no. Also, I love to make Sakura have more personality and kick than she sometimes gets in the manga. She's not the paragon most people make her out to be, and she deserves more character than that. Plus, she's a fun foil for Kuro!

**sketch81** : Thanks for looking it up! I couldn't find many KuroSaku stories either, but there's a C2 for them with everything I've found, if you want to check it out. (shamelessly plugs C2 as usual)

**Larania Drake** : Thanks! She really deserves it. Even though she sleeps a lot of the time, there's a whole lot more to her than just feeling sorry for her plight and wanting to help people. I like experimenting with her, and she's fun to work with.

Thanks to everyone who reads this! I have some intriguing ideas for the finish and where it'll go to get there. I love getting your reviews and I love seeing new KuroSaku fics! If you find any that aren't in the C2, let me know!

Over and out,

--cy.


	12. His Paper Heart II: An Autumn Haunted

_The bottles of sake lay strewn across the roof tiles. The temple's protector had been quite liberal in the libations he alloted for his guests, and Kurogane supposes they ought to feel honored. He doesn't, though. Instead, there is something he must ask. Clouds pass in the charged sky above, casting shadows where they will_

_"You're running from someone, aren't you?" He questions the man in the long, white coat, sitting next to him on the roof. "That's why you're on this journey, isn't it?"_

_The other sighs, swaying slightly. "Saa, Kuro-moo, redemption has many forms. I could just as easily say that _you're_ the one running from someone."_

_Kurogane snorts._

_"Really? You don't have someone that lurks just beyond the bounds of your thoughts? Someone who haunts your consciousness, waiting for you to drop your guard just a little, relax, before flooding your mind with memories?" Fai smiles, all too knowingly. "Everyone has something that pursues them, some ghost, a shade..."_

Honestly, who would believe that stuff? Back in Nihon, they'd been civilized about things: there were shrines and temples dedicated to spirits, and one could visit them in order to gain their protection and blessing. The spirits certainly didn't follow people around, reminding them of things that had happened in the past, not even for the high priestess, who had a greater connection with them. What self-respecting person would put up with that?

_He_ certainly wouldn't. Ghosts, tsh.

He hoped, though, that the pork bun and those kids found them soon. This new world was a little weird. Not really in the good way, with fluffy scarf-wearing jungle bunnies who just misunderstood what was going on (even if they were a facade, they hadn't been altogether frightening), but in a grittier, gorier way. These days, they battled day in, day out; he wasn't even sure what country they were in anymore. Shara? Shura?

He was pretty sure about one thing, though: if he didn't stop seeing her everywhere soon, he was going to go insane.

It had been months.

Yeah, getting to show off his skills as head of the princess' elite guard had been fun. He'd been right by Yasha-ou's side throughout many fights, hacking through waves of troops, to protect his new king. The enemy here were certainly more fun to subdue than oni. He couldn't let all of his restraints drop and kill people-- his curse still held-- but he was well-versed enough in the ways of the sword that when he was through with someone, they weren't going to be posing a threat to Yasha-ou or his allies anytime soon.

It ought to have been enough to make him happy, content with his lot in life, but it wasn't. Behind street corners, in crowds, in the palace's rooms, something--a flash of fabric, a glimpse of brown-- would catch his eye, force him to do a double-take, just to make sure...

But he was letting it run away with him.

Ever since they got to this forsaken rock, he'd had a lot of time to think. This was pretty much just because he and Fai had stopped being able to talk to each other without the manjuu. While this didn't stop Fai from trying (would anything stop Fai? Kurogane wondered vexedly), the ninja's interaction with him was brief. It was somewhat reassuring to find that Yasha-ou's men spoke some dialect he could piece out, though it was like trying to understand someone with strong accent, Kurogane could communicate, speaking a shadow of the courtly tongue he'd used in Nihon.

There was another problem, though. One that he wasn't so eager to talk about, as he was absolutely certain that none of Yasha-ou's warriors would believe him if he told them about what he'd been seeing.

Or was it what he _wasn't_ seeing? What he was inferring from a laugh, a smile, a petal floating on the air, or a woman's sighs? How could it be that, even though she was nowhere present, he still felt everything that reminded him of her all over this place?

He'd nearly fallen off his horse when they passed a destroyed bakery and wheat mill in one of the towns. Something (someone?) had been there in the window, he was sure of it. His head had jerked in that direction, ears echoing with the sound of a laugh long gone. The windows were dusty and empty, dark and devoid of life.

"A problem, Knight Kurogane?" their leige-lord had asked, asumedly.

Kurogane had given one last look to the bakery window, shook his head, and turned away.

Tsh, what good was thinking about her going to do anyway? She was as good as gone, for all he knew. He'd have better luck talking to Fai than letting his imagination run away with him.

"Ave atque salve, Kurogame!" A pause, and the mage looked downcast. "Heu, ubi ibi Mokonam ire it? Necesse est mihi tibi dicere de res, multa res..." Fai sighed.

The magician had long understood that Kurogane couldn't make out a word he was saying, but he couldn't seem to stand the silence. The other men had initially been spooked by Fai's strange words, but once Kurogane had explained that his companion was a powerful wizard who often cast spells to protect his friends and weaken the enemy, they seemed more accepting.

"Yeah, yeah, hello to you too. Look, I'm calling them to arms. We're heading out." He leaned against a wall of Yasha-ou's barracks and polished Sohi. The blade didn't really need it, he found. Meanwhile, Fai was making interesting hand gestures.

"Ad arma! Heu, in somnum tuum heri res dicebat." He stopped, tilted his head. "De...puella certa, poneo. At valde scio non mihi tibi narrare ea desires. Eheu." He got a teasing look on his face. "Kurogullus ea non audit... Ast eam certe non oblivisti!"

Kurogane knew that he was being made sport of, and shot his companion a disproving look. The great army of Yasha-ou was assembled, and the royal guard established as they made their way out to the field.

Even in battle, when all his instincts were allowed to kick in, he found himself distracted, wondering if she could parry an attack like that, curious to know if her agility could let her evade like that swordsman did, if her blade was holding out, if the battle hadn't reached her yet and if she was trying to scrape by in peace...

An arrow whizzed dangerously close to him. Fai shouted out an exclamation and fired back, while the ninja gritted his teeth and rode off into the furor. What was he doing, losing concentration? He was about to chide himself for the lapse, remind himself that there was blood to be split, when suddenly there she was.

Standing in the middle of the battlefield (run! he wanted to yell, tell her that she was taking too dangerous a chance, she was in the line of fire), her hair whirling about in the gusts of wind that buffeted them, a smile resplendent on her face, was Sakura. She was there, waiting for him. Waiting for him to come rescue her.

Kurogane's face paled.

A spearman stepped between them, but a quick flick of Sohi had the man lying prone. He urged his horse onward, like trapped in dream, half aware of the chaos errupting around him, too entranced to take his eyes off the spot she was.

Slowly, begrudgingly, agonizingly slowly, the wall of enemy soldiers between them weakened and dissipated. She was still standing there, untouched and unharmed in the center of the storm, smiling uninhibitedly at him, a hand stretched outwards.

He dismounted, not taking his eyes off her for fear that she, too, like all the other apparitions, would disappear as soon as he looked away. His horse bucked and whined, spooked by the sounds and the abandonment of its rider. Kurogane stepped forward, crossing the rubble and extending his hand out to her.

"Kurogane!" A voice called in the distance.

Their eyes met, onyx-masked crimson on bright hazel, unshaken. He was just about to touch her hand when suddenly, a great weight fell on top of him.

"Io! Contende!"

Dammit! He threw whomever was on him off and, unfettered by the obstruction, quickly turned back to the clearing, desperate for some sign--

There was nothing. Piles of the dead surrounded him, weaponry gleaming in the last light of the evening, as clouds crossed the sky and unsheathed the moon, but where he was searching, there were only dirt clods and the marks of hoofprints in the granular land.

He sunk to his knees, scooping a handful of sand up and letting it slowly slip back to the earth from the gaps in his closed palm.

_What was it that she meant to him?_

Behind him, he heard Fai's voice, and the magician dusting himself off.

"Umbra." The mage offered him a hand, saying, "Comphrendo, scis. Forsan melior quam pones."

Kurogane shrugged it off, and found that some of his men had caught his horse when it ran away. He nodded his thanks. That didn't stop the questions from coming, though.

"What was that, sir? Rumor is that they've got magicians on their side now, just like we do!"

"Did they cast an enchantment on you, sir?"

A messenger pushed his way through the crowd. "Sir, His Highness has sent a summons for you. He wants you to come right away--"

"Yeah, yeah," Kurogane muttered, casting one last glimpse back at the spot, knowing what he would see. A sad star set in the gray sky above and crisp leaves rustled in the night air.

Pulling his cloak around him--what, was he shivering?-- Kurogane mounted his horse and rode off, staying a little apart from the rest of his company. Keeping his eyes fixed on his destination, no matter what begged him to avert his gaze, he grimaced.

He was starting to see what Fai meant about ghosts.

* * *

**Author's Post-It:**

Hey, everyone! :D Hope you're enjoying things-- I've always wanted to include a chapter on ghosts. (has a thing for the paranormal-fantastic) Anyway, thank you for reading! Wow, I actually have real content to put in my Author's Note instead of my ranting! Weird.

If anyone was wondering, the language Fai was speaking is Latin. All the sentences were created by me, no online translator or anything, just good old cy and her Latin dictionary. In the manga he seems to have a lot of Greek characters in his speech bubbles, but I have no idea how to write in Greek, so I thought I'd substitute for something just as ancient and magicial. I think it suits Fai.

Here's what he's saying for those curious, or just too lazy to do the translation: (grin)

**1**. "Hellooo, Kuro-rin! Saa, when is Moko-chan going to get here? I've got to talk to you about things, so many things..."

**2**. "To arms! Hey, you were saying things in your sleep yesterday. About...a particular girl, I think. But you definitely don't want me to tell you them. Alas. Kuro-bun won't hear them. But he certainly hasn't forgotten her!"

**3**."Hey! Snap to it!"

**4**. "A shade. I understand, you know. Perhaps better than you think."

Yup, there you go. Even without reading what they mean, you can still follow along in the story.

A note on the use of the word "shade": in Roman superstitions and belief, when a person died, if they died violently or were in some other way bound to the mortal plane, they left behind a version of themselves, like a shadow, which was called an _umbra, _a shade. In the Aenied and other sources, these "shades" are typically much taller than their original owners (like how your shadow stretches in the sun) and thus come off as pretty imposing and scary. I thought it would be interesting to juxtapose the idea of something frightening with something as sweet and not-fear-inducing as Sakura, and to explore how, sometimes, the most innocent of things can haunt a person.

There you go. End extra-ultra-special-deluxe writer's stuff here. And now, reviews!

**I****ceQueen** : I'm glad that worked out okay! I want to keep their romance as OC as possible (being KuroSaku, it's naturally going to be OOC by default) and small things building up to bigger revelations seem to work for that. I love creating subtleness and mystery in my work.

I have an idea for a KuroSaku drabble that I think I'll post separately from this before I go into the next chapter. Thanks for all the support, everyone, and I love hearing what people have to say to me about this!

Out--

--cy.

* * *


	13. To Wish on Paper Wings

"And for you last card, Kuro-bun...oh, look, the Lovers! How appropriate!"

Kurogane almost up and left right there. This day was one big farce after another.

It was one of those events that Kurogane had never thought that he would be attending, something that went completely against the grain of his work, and something he doubted he'd ever be obliged to take part in, except maybe as a guard. But even then, he would have done his best to avoid it completely. There was nothing so unsettling as a wedding.

So, the temple's protector and the theatre troupe leader were going to be married. As guests of both (they'd come across Syaoran and Sakura, who had informed them of their travels), they were caught in the upswing and preparations. Sakura had been hanging flowers, Syaoran was helping decorate the main hall and area where the ceremony would be conducted, and Fai was doing what Fai did best: being utterly useless and fooling around with strange pieces of paper.

"Saa, Kuro-tan, don't leave yet! I haven't finished giving you your reading."

He'd only allowed the magician to do this because he didn't want to have to go back to his own task, not with _her _hanging around like that. The flower decorations were right next to where he was going to work. Ever since getting back from Shura, or Shara, or whatever the hell the world in the sky was calling itself, he'd felt different around her: not the tolerable inclinations that he'd used to have, but something stronger, like something in her was pulling him closer.

It was like some bizarre mutation of gravity, and he didn't want to chance it any more than absolutely necessary. His idea for a contribution had been stupid anyway.

"Fine. What do these idiot pieces of paper have to say about what's going to happen to me anyway?"

Tracing his fingers across the splay of cards on the makeshift table (Kurogane thought the cards really looked more like wards anyway and that the whole thing was a load of trash), the magician pouted and spoke.

"You're covered by the Eight of Swords, which means that you feel trapped, like there's no good way to escape from where you are without hurting yourself..." Kurogane snorted, letting the rest of it wash over him. Like he really felt like something in the past was going to come back to haunt him, or that his energies were being misdirected. Yeah, misdirected in not getting out of this place sooner.

"And, about your future... the Lovers says that you're going to find someone that understands you, a moment of perfect clarity between persons." Fai smiled. "There you are, Kuro-pin! Good things are coming to you! Ah, there've been so many good fortunes today."

Kurogane took his leave.

"Ah! Kuro-run, where are you going? Don't you want to see me tell other people's fortunes too?"

He bit back a laugh. If that mage was just going to spout that nonsense about love again, then sure as hell he was getting out of there. He'd take his chances with the soporific princess.

Passing under a white canopy ("Hey, watch your head, we're working here!"), he let his eyes roam over various worksites and stations. The wedding would be taking place late this afternoon, and it looked like people were still getting ready. He sighed. Even with this much time beforehand, there was no way he could finish in time.

Finding a shady niche, well away from the flower garlands, he sat down, took a piece of pristine paper from the stash he'd brought with him, and folded it in half.

He must have learnt this ages ago; he couldn't really remember when. Perhaps, his mother, wanting to pass something onto her son, if not the wards, had entrusted it to him. No, he;d have remembered it was her. Maybe, in an hour of boredom at Shirasaki, he'd copied someone he was spying on as they amused themselves with it. Still, it was a talent that was his, and he was pretty sure in this world, his alone.

Banners started to rise as he folded and watched their progress. Somewhere between the fluttering of sheets and activity, he saw an auburn haired girl laugh as she stitched blooms along in a line.

What was wrong with him?

She moved, and his breath came up short. She smiled and he didn't want to walk away. What had happened to him? He was the one that people relied on, he couldn't have anything distracting him...not her, not enemies, not anyone. He set to folding the paper with a renewed vigor. He could beat this.

It would just take...time.

But the time away from her certainly hadn't seemed to do any good, had it? All that had happened was that things got worse.

He gritted his teeth and folded the paper more viciously, nearly tearing it.

"Kurogane-san? What are you doing in here?"

Damn it. Damn this whole world to hell.

He stood up, hiding the thing up a sleeve and turning away. It was a futile gesture, but he hoped maybe, just maybe, if he could avoid making eye contact that the feeling wouldn't riddle his insides with nerves or give too much away. Did amnesia girl really need any more complications in her life? And what about Syaoran? DIdn't he deserve a break now and then?

Life was unfair, he concluded.

"Nothing."

And that was the truth. He would have nothing to present to the couple. Tough. Sometimes you just had to live with not having things the way you wanted them. Part of growing older is realizing that the world really is an imperfect place.

"It's just that...you've been awfully quiet since we came back from that other world..." Sakura started, hesitantly.

"Yeah, being able to talk to everyone again's great." He said, the innocent remark dripping with sarcasm. Fai, on discovering his speech understood, immediately decided to make up for all time he'd lost teasing Kurogane about his "misstep" during battle earlier. Fed up with all the needless, endless chatter, Kurogane had been trying to spend as much time away from them as possible. It was funny how quickly you could just get sick of people.

"What do you have there?" She asked, tilting her head to better catch a view of what he held in his hand. He jerked it away. "Nothing."

She smiled, and caught his palm in hers. The shock of contact put him so on edge that he hardly noticed her pry open his hand and remove the folded thing.

Turning it over in her fingers delicately, she admired it, smile still on her face.

"Aaah! Kurogane-san! This is so pretty!"

He snorted, snatching it back. "It's not even done yet. You can't go calling it pretty when you have no idea what it'll look like."

Instantly contrite ("Oh, I'm sorry, Kurogane-san!") and equally determined ("But I just have this feeling it'll look pretty in the end!"), and even a little nervous ("Is that weird? It's hard to explain..."), maybe that she had gone too far, as he could tell from the blush creeping up her face, she watched. His fingers completed the last folds and--

"Close your eyes." He said gruffly, pausing where he was.

Sakura cocked her head quizzically, but then did as she was asked. A moment later, something light was placed in her hand.

"A bird! Ah, it really is pretty, Kurogane-san!" She toyed with it, seeing how the wings connected to the body, how the head bent, and savoring the sharp elegance.

"Not just a bird. In my country, it's..." he trailed off. What had gotten into him? What, was he going to go off and spout old legends from his homeland for her amusement? She looked at him expectantly. He sighed. Apparently, that was just what he was going to do.

He just hoped it didn't make him sound like a complete fool.

"It's called a crane. There's a legend that the people there associate with them. They say that if you fold a thousand of these they'll grant you one wish." There. He'd said it. She'd laugh any moment now.

But the laughter never came. Instead, she did something completely unexpected.

"Can you teach me how to make them? I'd love to have such a talent."

Kurogane threw a glance back at her, to make sure that she wasn't kidding him. He should have known that this would happen with her, earnest in everything she did, that she would want to help him. He thought of objecting and then sighed. Fine.

"Alright. But I expect you to keep up."

She nodded vigorourly.

"First, we start with a mountain fold. That's making the paper look like a mountain, like this." He held up a triangle. "Now, open that up and do it on the other corner, and then fold it in half normally, open it up, and then fold it perpendicular to that." The paper was very folded by now.

"Got it!"

"Now, go backwards over some of the folds, so you end up with a square." He did this quickly, finger sure and swift. When he looked up from the task, he saw her confusedly stare at the shape he'd made, then down at her own sheet, already lost.

"Alright, we'll do yours together." He conceded vexedly, and she gave him another resolute nod, willing herself to be able to do this.

It turned out to be enjoyable, even though he'd never admit it. She'd ask him why he described things the way he did--Kurogane didn't even realize that was strange. It sort made sense to name the folds different things, like how that one was a kite, or this was like a fish. She seemed...amused.

"You following me here? We're almost done."

Sakura's face lit up, ready for the big reveal. "Okay, tell me what I have to do.

"Turn the side you just folded over one, like you're reading a book. Then flip it around and do that for the other side."

She did this, a little hesitant since he was letting her go on her own, but accomplished it correctly. He nodded.

"Then peel down the wings, make a fold for the head, and there it is."

A smile so ecstatic spread across her features that it seemed to light up the entire alcove. "Look, I think I did it!"

Kurogane examined the crane, checking to see that no hidden errors were present. "That's it," he affirmed, and was going to suggest that she get back to her work with the flower garlands, when he found himself abruptly hugged.

"Thank you so much! I didn't think I could learn to do that, and you showed me how easy it was."

Ordinarily, he would have said something about it being not that easy at all, and that it had taken him quite a few tries and a good number of papercuts to master. But, she seemed so happy that the words didn't come. Instead, perhaps due in part to her proximity, he shrugged, muttered a "yeah, fine" and sent her on her way, no doubt to return, overjoyed, to her flower crafting.

The hours wore on, and he kept folding cranes. He had about fifty, which was a fair number, but nowhere near what he would need for the gift to have any significance. He sighed and glared at the pile of cranes that had built in front of him, willing the birds to multiply on their own. They didn't.

The sun had swum into its appointed position and, tired of work and straining himself against all odds, he gathered up the cranes and wondered what he was to do with them. Throwing them in the river would probably be fitting. More unwished-on cranes to fill the world, one more half-finished deed.

He frowned and kicked a rock under one of the temple porches.

"Kurogane-san! Ah, there you are!" Sakura burst from around a corner, flowers flowing through her hair. "The gift giving's about to start."

He made a motion to deposit the cranes, but as soon as the girl saw this, she rushed over. "Please bring those with you, Kurogane-san!"

Raising an eyebrow, he followed. What were a newly wed couple going to do with fifty superfluous cranes? Burn them? Nonetheless, he allowed himself to be led to the clearing by Sakura.

What he saw there was something he would not easily forget.

White pieces of paper fluttered in the wind, cranes strung along next to flowers hung on garlands going from lantern to lantern. As the sky darkened in its sunset and the breeze blew, it almost looked like the cranes were flying through a storm of blossoms. Sakura rushed back to him with a thread.

"We've got to hurry so that these can get up before they get here!"

"Sakura-chan!" A performer called. "They're just coming out of the gate!"

Sakura's eyes widened. "Oh no!" She set to the work even faster, as Kurogane, half in a stupor, half amazed, took in the multitude of cranes. His keen ear perceived a whisper on the wind...

"Nine hundred ninety-two, ninety-three..."

There surely...they couldn't have...

But there was her exuberant face again, holding up his last crane, the one he'd taught her on, and adding that to the string.

"We did it!"

A cheer rose from those gathered as Sakura hastily tied the garland onto a tree overhanging the ceremonial area and then the noise intensified when the bride and groom entered.

Kurogane pulled Sakura aside with a tug on her sleeve. "How did this happen? There's no way you could have made all those."

Unless, he wondered disconcertedly, she had some sort of secret magic that she hadn't told anyone about. Because that would have made it absolutely unfair. He crossed his arms, waiting.

She clapped and cheered for the bride and groom and the whispered back, "I taught everyone here how to make them, and as soon as people finished what they were working on, they came over to help us. Everyone," she mused, looking out into the crowd "seemed to want to give these two a wish for their marriage."

She watched for a few more moments, and then frowned.

"Kurogane-san?"

He blinked a few times. "Yeah?"

"How do you do the wishing part?"

He sighed. Magic and wishes really weren't his forte. Hacking enemies up and protecting important things were more his fields of expertise.

"I would imagine that if everyone made the cranes with the wish in mind, then it's already in motion." Kurogane glanced down, and saw Sakura's thoughtful face. Amused and a little exasperated, in an action that surprised her (and later even him, when he thought back on the encounter), he ruffled her hair with an odd smile on his face and walked away. "Though, I suppose you could wish it yourself just to make sure."

And that was precisely what she did.


	14. From the Ashes of a Fairy Tale

A train of lanterns danced across the twilight sky, rustling in the breeze. Sparks and small bursts of flames from Ashura's followers luminated small alcoves and their casters' heads, so that the entire after-party looked like a shower of flickering lights.

Kurogane was never one for parties.

This was probably due to the fact that he really disliked them, of the opinion that willfully lowering one's inhibitions could never amount to much good. That and the fact that the pork bun and the wizard had somehow managed to get themselves both roaring drunk.

"Kuro-pon! This is wonderful! We've got to go dance. I see Sakura-chan's looking for a partner..." He winked, as Mokona did somersaults on his shoulders. It seemed to be having a great time, bouncing from person to person. Eventually, it got so bold that it tried to land on Kurogane, but the ninja took defensive countermeasures.

"No way, you white pork bun!" He yelled, taking a swat at the creature as it bounded from head to head.

"Nyah, Kurogane's being so mean to Mokona when all Mokona wanted to do was play a game!"

Fai patted the little puff's head consolingly. "Ah, Moko-chan. Kuro-pipi just seems to take delight in ruining other people's fun." He spotted a group of troupe members that looked like they were getting ready to set some fireworks off and directed Mokona's attention toward them. "Saa, that looks more exciting! How about it, Moko-chan? Shall we go and see some fireworks?"

It nodded enthusiastically, so much so that it started to do somersaults on Fai's head. Kurogane stared. A pork bun flipping over some guy's head. If he hadn't been absolutely sure he hadn't drunk anything, he'd have removed himself from the party right then. The way things were going anyway, he was getting the feeling that he'd probably have to get leaving soon.

Syaoran seemed to be being put through the paces of highwire walking again, to demonstrate how easy it was for a man to learn the art of balance. The ladies of the troupe were looking up at him expectantly, as the temple men watched doubtfully. Kurogane hoped the kid had practiced. Scaling Shirasaki's roofs and turrets had taught him quite a lot about how important it was to keep good balance, especially under pressure.

He glanced up at the kid, just to make sure that he wasn't too nervous to get himself through the act in one piece. Syaoran's determined look said it all. The kid had some sort of internal fire, and whether it was to make his hosts feel like they had taught him well, or to get all of the princess' feathers back, he met each challenge with the same brand of determination.

The ninja receded once more to the shadows.

The party was in full swing, dancers taking the inner ring of the festivities, with the fringe events like tightrope walking, fireworks, and various food stalls lining the edges of a giant circle. So, this was it; the mysteries of the statues had been solved, the two lovers were together at last. All of this was the dying ashes of long battles and long separations.

There was one more member of his group that he still hadn't found, but he had a good idea where he would find her.

As he approached the inner ring of dancing couples, he found her. On the outskirts of the circle, there she was, dancing all by herself to some melody unheard. Perhaps she was waiting for Syaoran to come back from his highwire stunt; that would make sense, the kid had promised to dance with her, most likely. Kurogane shook himself.

Well, yeah. That's what's supposed to happen. Princes get to have the memorable dance with their princesses, it's destiny or whatever word that stupid witch had been babbling about before she sent him on this idiot journey. Right now, knowing that he would have to sit through a dance with those two as partners before he could at last go back to their rooms (or, even better, out of this place) was making something in his insides burn.

There was no place for him here. No princess in any tale he'd heard ever ended up with a bloodthirsty murderer as her dance partner. He was more like a dragon to be slain than a handsome prince. Not even the oddest of the stories he knew had a plot like that.

He found a chair and debated sitting down in it before he saw her expression.

She was dancing by herself for all intents and purposes, but it didn't seem that way. Her partner might have been the wind, gracefully sweeping glowing ashes into the air about her, or perhaps the clouds from the fire, or even the blaze itself.

Intrigued, he abandoned the thought of the chair and approached her.

"Hey." He said, jarring her from her reverie. Startled, her eyes widened and she lost balance, only to be caught--

"You alright?" Kurogane asked skeptically. The last thing he needed was a woozy princess. With the mage and pork bun inebriated, all that it would take it make his night complete would be for the kid to break an arm trying to walk that tightrope. Kurogane put together a plan. If he could get Fai and the manjuu locked up, he could probably get the kid to a doctor fairly quickly. Of course, this was provided Sakura didn't get lost, run away, or fall asleep somewhere along the way. Otherwise, it would be hide-and-seek with a drowsy princess.

Her eyes focused on his right away. That was a good sign.

"Kurogane-san? Oh, I'm sorry!" Her faced blossomed into a massive blush as she realized what position she was in. Hastily, he returned her to her feet. Now was not the time to attract attention. All he wanted to do was get everyone out of here as soon as possible, he convinced himself, still feeling the soft weight of the girl absently in his arms.

She bowed, evidently still a little embarrassed. "Thank you for catching me. I guess I was a little too caught up in the music." She finished, smiling.

Sitting down on a ledge, he looked away. "I thought you would have been tired a long time ago." At this, Sakura's face lit up.

"Nope! I've been training, too!" She looked very proud of herself. "I want to be able to stay awake longer, so I've been trying to keep myself awake more and more each day."

Kurogane sighed. "You need sleep, too. It would be foolish not to recognize that."

For a long moment, they both went silent. Kurogane couldn't believe that he had just expressed concern for her. Wasn't that the magician's job, or the kid's, or somebody's else's? He wasn't supposed to have a heart. At least, not one that was beating so feverishly against his ribs.

It's not like she was anything special even. Just someone who had told him that he was lonely.

He snorted to himself. Lonely. That's the kind of life he led, the kind where by profession, he was a loner. Ninjas don't have friends. Friends are people that you sacrifice things for, and for him, the only person that he could give that kind of devotion to was his master. Anything else just got in the way.

When he was about to go and prowl the rooftops (he tended to do this regardless of whether the roofs needed protecting or not-- it was a convenient place to go where people wouldn't think to look for him), Sakura posed a question to him. Only, she said it so fast that he could barely understand a word of it.

"What?" He demanded, in a bad mood and wanting nothing more than to escape the situation.

She blushed, red creeping over her features steadily. "I apologize, Kurogane-san. I shouldn't have asked."

Shaking his head, he tried to remain calm. Dammit, he needed to slice something up. The next world they went to better have something for him to fight. He took a deep breath.

"It's not that. You spoke too fast."

A pause.

"Oh."

Another pause, more weighty than the last.

Eventually, Kurogane broke it.

"Look, if you've got something to say, just say it."

Sakura swallowed, gearing herself up for something. The pit of Kurogane's stomach tightened. She couldn't possibly feel the same way, could she? No. Someone like her wouldn't be caught dead--

"W-will you dance with me, Kurogane-san?" She asked, chancing a glance at his features before quickly riveting her eyes to the ground again. "I just wanted to dance with someone, and...ah, nevermind."

He blinked. Dancing?

Meanwhile, Sakura was tried to politely excuse herself ("Um, I think I see Fai-san calling over there--") when he caught her arm, firmly but also gently.

"All you want's a dance?"

Sakura nodded slowly. Kurogane thought of asking, _With me?_ but couldn't. Something in him told him that the answer wouldn't be what he wanted.

Resigning himself to the task, he held out an arm. "Fine."

She stood there, staring back at him, although surprised he'd acquiesced.

_Dammit already, just take it_, he thought, wondering just how much of a dolt he was going to make himself look like tonight. The fact that they would probably be leaving this world soon served as small consolation.

And she did, grasping his arm and they moved in to join the other pairs in the ring.

For a while, Kurogane found himself trying not to trip over her feet, or his feet, or someone else's goddamned feet that had somehow gotten in their way. After that awkward stage had passed, though, he felt like he'd gotten the hang of it.

Sakura's hand burnt into his, fingers hotter than he would have thought they'd be. His other hand encircled her waist, gently directing them through the current of music and dancers. A smile once again graced her lips, and Kurogane felt a strange warmth spread through him, as though somehow the world was closing in and settling comfily on them, enveloping their steps in a glowing light.

"Thanks." He said, somewhat gruffly, after the music shifted to something softer. Sakura cocked her head.

Kurogane rolled his eyes. Like he'd say the real reason. Like telling her, thanks for not writing him off as a total loss, or thanks for making him think that all those dreams, all those visions of her hadn't been all for naught...

Instead, he waved it off. "The cranes. I didn't expect that to come through."

She smiled back, the warmth of the fires and the warmth of her happiness melding into one. "It was no problem. Everyone was so willing to help."

The musicians struck up another tune, and this time, with some clumsy steps here and there, the pair swept along to the music, the sheer closeness of her frame and the trusting way she leant against him, making the ninja feel that perhaps, they too were setting the night on fire.

Or, at least, until she started to lean into him too much, and (after a nervous shock) Kurogane caught the girl as she became lost in slumber.

Great. One more person to carry back to their rooms.

Still, he couldn't help but start when her head nestled comfortably into the crook of his shoulder, and her arms wrapped themselves around him in her sleep. Walking back, he felt a peculiar pang seize the underside of his heart and wondered to himself as he watched the ashes drift into the heavens.

Did a princess exist that could fall in love with a dragon?

* * *

**Author's Note**:

Thank you everyone for reviewing! I'm behind on a couple of chapters, so I'll try to get those up and posted as soon as possible. So expect to see some more updates!

--cy.


	15. What Goes Around

He wonders if there's some full-scale karmic retribution going on, or if the world has just decided to hate him. Whatever the case, the wrongs that he committed in his past certainly seemed to be coming full-circle.

"What in the hell is this?" Kurogane muttered, holding up a misshapen piece of metal with a whirly-gig attached on one side.

"Looks like a spanner, Kurogane-san," Syaoran replied, already fast at work on his own dragonfly. Kurogane grimaced. He hardly even knew that machines like this existed, much less how to put one together. The kid seemed to be going all out at it, working on all of their crafts in turn, but Kurogane wished he could understand at least a little of what was happening.

He also just really didn't want to be put on casino duty again, and it was looking more and more like that was exactly what was going to happen.

Casino duty was the fun and exciting job title given to the chore of guarding and watching Sakura as she won them vast sums of money to purchase parts with and get new tools or supplies for their dragonflies. Syaoran was excused from the sport, as he had to be the one building things (or teaching whomever was left behind how to build things), so that left him and Fai.

Some casinos were a bit picky about whom they let play; Kurogane had heard someone whispering to the manager that the girl winning everything must be underage, so the ninja had taken them to one side and, after a few moments' conversation, the problem was fixed.

"Oh, Kuro-bun! You'll never believe what Syaoran wants to teach me to build today! It's a part of the wing that helps control flight, I think it's called...slats?" Fai said, tasting the word. "So, since we need some more material pretty soon..."

"Yeah, yeah," Kurogane replied, getting out from under the machine. He knew what being asked of him. At least they had arrived a good time before the race took place. He didn't relish actually getting into one of those things and actually flying around, but it was looking more and more like he'd have to.

He shrugged the thought off. Oh well. He'd start practicing once Syaoran deemed his craft operational. Midnight was usually a good time: no one would be awake to see him crash into anything if it came to that.

He walked back to the house (they had a house now, which was a step up, though the rental had given their savings quite a blow), and started to go about finding Sakura. This was no easy task. That girl could fall asleep anywhere. Being a ninja, though, gave him an advantage: he traced her steps from one room to another, until he gradually found--

"Kurogane-san!"

It always seemed like such a surprise, didn't it? Some punk tried to harass her after she'd won her third jackpot of the day (they were damn lucky there were so many casinos in this place--it always seemed like they had to run the circuit of them these days, whether someone banned them or people got uppity), so Kurogane had a chat with him and eventually they saw eye to eye. Of course, the man was significantly less tall than Kurogane, so in order to accomplish this, the ninja had had to hoist him up by his collar and pin against a wall, staring him down with that manic grin of his.

Kurogane always found that strategy effective. Once he'd taken care of that one, though, a whole slew of his friends had come up to his charge while he was away.

"Hey, you seem to be pretty lucky at the slots, aren'tcha? Maybe you'd like to try a hand at roulette."

Someone in the crowd guffawed. Then, they started coughing and doubled over mid laugh because they'd received a sharp elbow to the stomach.

Counting up the winnings (the casinos tended to use basically the same form of coins, so the markings were by now more familiar to Kurogane than he cared to admit), he figured she had enough for the day. He walked to her side, and, bracing an arm against the wall, he leaned around her, matching the onlookers' dirty looks with an unmistakable, she's-mine stare.

The crowd slowly dispersed, muttering to themselves. He smiled. Dispatching a crowd was a job that he was much more suited for doing than sitting around. So what if he couldn't kill people? There were plenty of unpleasant things you could do to the human body without killing it.

"Hey. Let's go on back. This should be enough to keep them busy for a while."

Sakura nodded, smiling and unruffled by the incident, and scooped her coins into a bag that she reserved for that purpose. Kurogane's eyes widened as he saw that what she'd had in front of her was only a small fraction of the day's takings. He shook his head. Damn, how one person could be so lucky was just beyond him. Kurogane wondered how long it would take her to win them the vacation home that the casino was promising to its Lucky Seven Jackpot winner.

He had half a mind to let her try it. Hell, even if they didn't use it, land could be sold for a pretty high value these days. With what she had right now, he estimated, they could probably buy the house they were renting with change. He shrugged and escorted her to the prize counter, where they received a massive amount of credit on their data cards.

Blind chance, tsh. That had nothing to do with it. When Sakura was involved, it was like a force the controlled luck also followed. Magic? He wondered. And for some reason, his mind brings back that dance, when he swung her around and saw the lights reflected in her eyes.

"Um, Kurogane-san? I think we're all set." She looked at him plaintively, waiting for him to lead her out.

He shook the feeling off and led her back down the street. They were almost back to the house when he changed their course, and headed in a different direction. She followed, not quite sure what to make of it, but decided that there were sometimes things that were better off being left alone.

The sign above the shop read "Compass Rose Coffeeshop", and the shopfront bore a compass insignia with an arrow pointing to the northwest, golden and shining in the late afternoon sun. The place was lightly populated, the occasional mechanic occupying a chair, with various machineries clicking on the walls in the background. It had a sense of nostalgia about it, like the owners had reminisced about times when engines and self-propelled vehicles were just coming out.

Kurogane entered and held the door for Sakura, who followed, taking in the strange place.

He stopped abruptly before the counter and plucked a menu from a rack for her to look at.

"They have milkshakes and things like that if you don't like coffee."

Sakura glanced from the menu to the man who had brought her here, a million questions forming in her mind. "What's th--"

"Look, just--" He started and then broke off. What, was he going to tell her just to go along with it. His eyes roved the floor, trying to piece out a good statement.

"Um, what's a frappucino?"

Kurogane blinked. Hell if he knew.

Luckily, one of the servers had been listening in and explained things for them. When they both had ordered, Kurogane sent Sakura off to get them some seats, and shortly after, he joined her, placing her drink before her.

She waited a few moments, watching the dragonflies zip around in the sky out the window, when the engineers looked on approvingly from the ground, before she said anything. But the silence eventually became too much.

"Kurogane-san, why are you doing this for me?"

She chanced a brief glimpse at him, only to see that he, too, was looking out the window. She hastily glanced back, then began tracing shapes in the water rings that their drinks had left behind on the tabletop.

It took him a moment to put together his response. It surprised him, how much things had changed since that time so long ago, when he was teaching her swordplay just so she wouldn't be a nuisance to him on their oni-hunting trips. He sighed.

"You don't seem to get thanked for doing this." He saw confusion sweep over her face, and clarified. "For going to casinos all the time, or gambling with whomever wants to gamble in inns or taverns or whatever. Without that," he paused, "we really would have a hard time buying things and moving from world to world. So, I thought you deserved something to say thanks."

He stopped, and realized that he'd probably said too much. Great. Now she was going to go off on how she didn't need to be thanked all the time and that she was just doing what she could for the group--like he hadn't heard enough of _those_ already...

But, she didn't.

Instead, she smiled at him, one of those straight-on, full-force smiles of hers, and said, simply, "Thanks, Kurogane-san."

He might have said something, but he forgot. He had been nervously playing with his straw for a minute or so when she drew her attention away from the fliers outside and asked him something he hadn't expected.

"How did you find out about this place? It doesn't seem like you to be exploring shops and things."

He shrugged. It was a simple enough question. "There's not too much here that's not mechanized or made entirely out of metal, and this place stands out." Was that not answering the question? "It's not as far away in the future as everything else around here is."

She nodded and smiled to herself.

"What?" He demanded, not going to let her laugh at him for his frankness. "What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing." Sakura shook her head quickly, traces of her eagerness to please coming back. "It's just, it suits you, Kurogane-san."

He turned away and focused on a dragonfly twirling loops in the air. Heh, maybe it did.

* * *

**Author's Note**:

Thanks for reading! I love reading through the reviews and getting feedback and encouragement, so thanks again to everyone for that. As far as timelines go, OOC&aPH will end up being probably something like an alternative timeline, rather than insanely AU. I've always wanted to show missing scenes in the manga that had KuroSaku in them, so this will probably continue along that line.

This fic isn't going to last for their entire trip, though. I want OOC&aPH to be the fluffy, happier side of KuroSaku, where they first fall in love and realize their feelings. I plan on doing a sequel to this, which covers their relationship through the rest of the manga. That one will probably be a lot more angsty, and deal with more major things happening through the worlds. But, I figure, twenty chapters or so is a lot for a fic, and that's about what this one is shaping out to be.

I hope you'll stay with me through the end of this one, and that you enjoy it. It's not coming right away, but it is coming. Soon.

But, let's not worry about that now. We've got dragonflies to ride! Thanks as always for the reviews and support!

--cy.


	16. His Paper Heart III: Glistening Winter

The night sky swam into view ahead, studded with the diamonds of stars and city lights glinting in the distance. And, hazardous as it was, he was finding that he could really get used to this flying thing after all.

It reminded him of Nihon, patrolling the palace roofs late at night, and he liked that feeling. It was something that he didn't often get to experience, it seemed, that solitary feeling of being the only person around in as big a city as this, packed as tightly with people as rice was compressed into an onigiri. Though, it being late in the evening, almost morning, he could hardly blame people for not being awake. In fact, he applauded them. More alone time for him.

He manouvered the dragonfly's controls smoothly, dipping and spiraling through a meadow full of long grasses, occasionally dropping low enough to just barely skim the their tops.

It wasn't just to show off (well, it was a part of it), but to develop the skills that would allow him to control the craft during a race. If he had to squeeze through tight places at top speeds, then he sure as hell wanted to know how to do it beforehand, and, if he was going to make a mistake and crash, then he'd rather crash without everybody and his mother watching him.

The first streaks of dawn were beginning to poke through the cover of night when he finally turned his flier back to the house, finally off to get some sleep.

Unbeknownst to him, however, someone was watching as he disembarked wearily and make his way up the stairs. Someone who got up early enough on some days to see the dawn.

Later in the afternoon, she ambushed him on his way out of the bathroom. Which, toothbrush sticking out of his mouth and foam forming about his lips, was an interesting sight.

He cocked an eyebrow, walked past her to get back to the sink, and counted himself lucky that he had decided to put on more than a towel before going through the rest of his routine. This toothbrushing thing was new; the magician had insisted that he take it up after he'd become reacquainted with sushi (it had been a delicious reunion, after so many worlds they'd spent apart) and by now he was just used to it. This thing called take-out seemed to be one of the better inventions that the future had come up with, Kurogane had to hand it to them. Whoever they were.

He finished his tooth-brushing, and found Sakura waiting for him outside the door. He sighed and wet a towel, preparing to wash his face.

"Spit it out. There's something bothering you."

Sakura poked her head in quizzically through the open door. Kurogane didn't tend to leave doors open. He scarcely got enough privacy with this group anyway, with them insisting that he pick up these new habits, or telling him to go and guard the girl, or all manner of things that he would rather not be doing. Hell, he hadn't fixed a roof in a couple of worlds, why not throw that in? So, naturally, when they had separate rooms, Kurogane would shut the door and savor the feeling of aloneness while he could.

She didn't respond right away. Maybe she wasn't used to someone else being able to see what people were feeling besides her. Tsh. Honestly, it wasn't that hard.

"Come on," he said, half into the towel as he dried his face. "I don't have all day."

"It's just that..." she started, brows knitting together in a worried line. Oh boy. He should have known that this was leading somewhere deep. This was probably going to take a while.

He motioned for her to follow as he flicked off the bathroom lights and walked into his own room to pick out clothes for the day. He had changed back into his pajamas after his shower (_there_ was something that had taken time for him to get used to. Syaoran explained that no, the house was not flooding, and had tried to convince the ninja that there wasn't a spell cast to get the water to come out of the nozzle the way it did, that it was just the wonders of modern plumbing. Kurogane didn't buy it for a second), so he was in need of something fresh to wear.

He threw a red shirt with a feather pattern on the bed and set about the daunting task of finding pants as she, hesitating again (at what? he wondered), began. "Well, I know that everyone's trying to do their best to win the feather and help me out, and I just feel that, well..." She took a deep breath. "I'm not really good at flying, am I?"

Kurogane could have rolled his eyes, but he refrained from that.

"No one's good at first. I sure as hell wasn't."

He was a little shocked at himself for admitting that aloud. Yeah, his first attempts at flying had proven to be pretty disastrous, but that was only because he had never flown in something like that before, let alone flown at all. Piloting was something you had to learn, not get good at over night. Well, in his case, he did get better over night, but that had been over the course of many nights.

She frowned and her shoulders slumped. "It's just...I wish I could do something more to get my feathers back. I know everyone says that I'm not a burden, but if the day of the race comes and the only thing everyone here worries about is me getting hurt or crashing..." Sakura stopped, and then began again. "From now on, I want to start doing things on my own, getting my feathers back myself."

Kurogane found the elusive pants clinging around a bedpost. Weird. He would have to put off wondering how they'd gotten there until later, though.

"Fine. So you want to get better." He shrugged. "You need to practice."

"But I keep crashing into things!" She blurted. "Syaoran-kun even gets worried sometimes when he watches me, and..." Her voice sank to a whisper. "I think he'd feel better if I didn't enter the race, just to keep myself safe."

Fishing a pair of socks out from the drawer and straightening the stack of ninja manga on his bedside table, one mutedly screaming "Bastard!" as he accidentally activated the reading device, he smiled to himself. "The kid just wants to see that you're safe. Which," he said, glancing up at her from the drawer, "is a perfectly legitimate concern, given your flying."

She pouted, hands turning into determined fists. "But I need to get better somehow. And what--"

Swiftly going to the door with the girl following determinedly, he issued her an ultimatum:

"Two in the morning tonight. If you can stay up, I'll take you flying and instruct you. If not," he shrugged. "But for now, you need to get out of here while I change."

And with that, he not-so-subtly closed the door on a very red-faced Sakura.

Later that night, he found her, somehow as perky as ever, waiting for him on the steps. Kurogane liked to make sure that he kept himself in shape (it had been a while since they'd had actual monsters to fight), so he practiced jumping from apartment tops and high buildings to keep his dexterity in top condition. That exercise done, he walked up the steps leading back to the garage.

"You ready to go?"

She nodded, pink goggles bobbing on her brown hair.

What a disaster.

He'd sent her up alone at first, just to refresh his memory of how she flew and what was causing her to crash. He realized very quickly that this was a terrible idea, as, at the height of an ascent, her dragonfly abruptly began to plummet to earth. A million images raced by of her dying, or all the feathers being scattered again, and his heart seemed to be pounding its way up his throat as she dove, until the moment she finally regained control and slammed into the grass.

Kurogane winced at the noise. Who wouldn't? A crash like that so early in the morning would offend more than just a ninja's acute sense of hearing.

She extricated herself from the dragonfly and looked at the craft. It had a large dent in one side from where it had hit the ground, and it didn't look like it would be all that safe for flying. Sakura sank down to her knees beside it, head bowed. Kurogane blinked, hoping that what he had decided to do didn't get them both killed in the process.

"Alright. So maybe that didn't work out too well." He commented, and noted that that didn't seem to be helping. He sighed, and a wave of frustration washed over him. What? It was the truth wasn't it? Sometimes, you just had to realize that you suck and have to get better.

But, he considered, hadn't she already had to come to that realization just to be serious enough to come out here and learn in the first place? He frowned. Damn it, now he sounded like an idiot, stating the obvious.

"Syaoran'll fix it." He said. "That kid likes fixing things. He even told me that the more times he looks at a dragonfly, the more ways he thinks of to make it fly even better. So, the way this is going, you should have a pretty good one after all this."

That brought a small grin to her face.

"Come on, let's get going."

The grin faded.

"But, Kurogane-san, I don't think it'll--"

"Not that one." The ninja said, walking back toward the concrete where the other fliers were parked. "We'll use mine."

Sakura's eyes were wide as she hurried to keep up with her companion's long strides. "But are you sure you won't mind if I crash it or anything?"

Kurogane shook his head. "Look, you're not going to crash. I'll be up there with you, helping you when you need it. So don't worry about whether I'm going to get mad or anything. I won't, unless the circumstance demands it."

They stepped into the car-shaped dragonfly, Kurogane taking the wheel at first, with Sakura sitting in the passenger seat.

"Hey. You paying attention?"

She nodded furiously, goggles slidding off an eye in the process, which she hastily corrected. He shook his head and reached over, tightening the strap on her eyewear. "Lesson one: no armor in the world will do you any good if it keeps falling off."

She nodded again, her cheek brushing his hand as he withdrew it.

Shaking the feeling off (what a time for this to happen, he tched), he lectured her on the basics of lift-off and bringing the craft to a steady course.

"Alright, now you take it from here." He said, gesturing at the wheel.

Sakura stared, as though she were wondering if he were serious, but stifling the question. She was here to learn, wasn't she? She'd have to learn how to pilot the thing sometime.

Gripping the wheel, she took over. They did a roller-coaster motion of swooping up and down for a few minutes as she adjusted to keeping the craft doing in a straight line, but eventually she got to a point where she could control the dragonfly's course with only a few minor moderations. Looking away from the panels for a moment, she gave Kurogane a brilliant grin.

"I'm really flying it!" She cried, exultantly.

He nodded, sitting back and steepling his fingers. The kid wasn't half bad. Maybe it was because no one had really given her a chance, always telling her not to push herself. Hell, maybe it was high time someone _did_ push her, gave her a goal to work to, challenged her to do something instead of always making allowances for her.

"Try turning."

She nodded, wanting to see if she could pull it off.

They had made a small turn, worked to wider turns, and she was trying to turn them around to fly in the opposite direction when it happened. All of a sudden, they started to fall. Sakura yelped, jerking her hands back from the controls as though they were on fire. Cursing under his breath as the air zipped past them and the ground rose ever faster up, Kurogane yanked the wheel upwards, pushing a button on the dashboard. A few seconds later, they were coasting along, Sakura again at the wheel, but crestfallen.

"After I was doing so well..." She swallowed. "I'm sorry, Kurogane-san. But maybe I really am no good at this."

"Don't say that." That remark came off as kind of rough and harsh sounding, which made Sakura jump with nerves, so he amended it. "Look, no one can do everything at once. I'll bet Syaoran had you trying to do everything by yourself, right?"

She nodded slowly.

"Taking off and landing are the hardest parts of flying. You need to master the basics before you can do the hard stuff. Tch," he added, half to himself, "you'd think that kid would have learnt from Oto and the blindfold."

Sakura was silent as they flew along for a few moments, then hazarded a question. "So do you still think I still have some worth in teaching?"

Kurogane gave her a sidelong glance and a half-smirk. "Would I be up here if I didn't? You're like a diamond in the rough, kid. You've got a long way to go, but I think you have a talent that a lot of people don't have with these things." He noticed her disbelieving look, and responded a little more violently than appropriate. "Hey! You do! What would you have done if I hadn't taken over?" He asked, in quite a different tone.

She paused, thinking. "Probably just grabbed the controls again and pushed up as hard as I could."

He nodded. "You're good enough to save yourself from crashing into things at the last moment. Thus far, you've tended to come to rolling stops, rather than striking anything directly. Besides, this was a dragonfly you'd never flown in before, and you automatically seemed to know what the right controls to use were. Now, do you see what I'm saying?" They passed over a moonlit lake, clouds rolling over the sky above them. Sakura nodded, deep in thought.

"Hey, scoot over. I want to show you something."

With its actual pilot back at the controls, the car flew more smoothly, and Kurogane maneuvered it through a forest, dodging trees and cliffs expertly. Sakura was impressed. He grinned, enjoying the thrill.

"I'll take you here and let you try it out when you've gotten more experienced. This is the place I like to go to practice precise turns and dodge obstacles. Plus," he said, as the craft raced through the last of the trees and out into an expanse of meadow, "it's got a great view."

Sakura agreed whole-heartedly. Purple flowers that glowed serenely in the night populated the valley, the wind's gusts blowing cascades through their ranks. To the east, she could see the ocean over a cliff, dawn's first pink rays spilling over the horizon.

"This place is beautiful, Kurogane-san," She whispered, lost in the scenery. He dipped the dragonfly lower, so that it was just scraping the tips of the flowers, each one wet with dew that sparkled and flew off them like purple gems scattering to the wind.

Laughing, Sakura leaned out over the side and let her fingers sweep through the flowers as they passed, catching the drops.

"This," Kurogane said, smiling (not quite a manic smile, but by no means soft either), "is what you'll be able to do if you keep trying."

She looked up from her sport, and nodded. She would keep trying, no matter how many times she crashed, how much she disliked having to get Syaoran to fix her dragonfly, or how late she could stay up. Winning her feather aside, being able to fly so gracefully as this was something that was worth the effort.

They landed back the house, just as the sun had come up enough to tint the sky golden. Sakura yawned, said, "Thank you, Kurogane-san" and then did something that took him completely by surprise.

She fell into his arms.

Kurogane was instantly on the alert. Every inch of skin her body touched was paralyzed and burning at the same time, his heart pounding a rebellious tattoo against his chest. Where the hell had this come from? Hadn't she recognized that the kid had eyes only for her, that she put a sparkle in his eye, that he didn't mind doing things for her, didn't mind losing all his memories of her, as long as she was alright and happy in the end? Wasn't that all you could ask for? Oh damn it, this couldn't be happening now, not when they were just outside the window and that damn mage was sure to taunt her about this--

"Sakura," he said hoarsely, trying to force the words out with her name tasting strange on his lips (had he ever called her by her first name?), "I don't think this is a good idea. Trust me, you'll regret--"

And then he heard her snoring and could have slapped himself for being so dense.

He closed the door behind them silently with his foot (a useful technique), as he carried her up the stairs, careful to avoid the stupid step (the tenth one) that always creaked. Sometimes being a ninja came in damn useful.

Not that it ever didn't, but on a night like this, hell, he was glad for each and every skill he had in his arsenal for sneaking around.

Arms still tingling slightly (his disillusionment about her intentions had lessened the sensation) he tucked her into her bed--she'd probably be cold from the winds flying around and would want the warmth of blankets-- and, with a final roll of his eyes and a hushed "tch", he removed her goggles gently and set them on her dresser.

As he slowly slid her door to a close, he sighed, reprimanding himself, began the walk up to his room, and then sank into bed, going over the events of the night before drifting off to sleep.

Real professional, falling for your student.

* * *

**Author's Note**:

Good news! I basically have rough drafts of everything. Yay! There's still an epilogue/afterword I'll write, but it's nice having the brunt of writing the main plot done with. Now, I just have to edit like crazy!

In other news, I don't know if people knew/ cared, but two years ago this day I claimed Kurogane from fanfic100 on LJ. Earlier this week, I posted the hundredth prompt and completed the challenge. So, I just wanted to give everyone who reads and reviews this an extra thank you and a hug (and Kurogane plushies with multiple outfits, if possible). I'm not sure how far I would have gotten if I hadn't had such great support.

So, thanks! You guys make this thing a lot more fun.

--cy.


	17. Tempest Rising

A thunderstorm was building up in the air somewhere. He could taste it.

"Keep the nose up or else you'll crash into something."

She nodded, delicately adjusting the controls of the dragonfly, not taking her eyes off the path ahead. Steering them through the trees required her full concentration, and she didn't talk. Kurogane approved.

It always seemed that storms happened at some really intense point in the proceedings. He hadn't read too much, but he remembered it being pounded into his head by some classical literature instructor from a long time ago. He couldn't see the ninja academy at Shirasaki hiring literature experts for its students, so he assumed it was from his years in Suwa. He smiled somewhat ruefully to himself. His parents had certainly liked him to possess a wide variety of knowledge.

But did it really apply to real life? Tch. He wasn't tense now, didn't feel like things were coming to a head. Sure, the dragonfly race was a few days away, but what of it? Sakura wasn't doing so badly, and the training was going well. If she failed, he or someone else from their team would succeed. Probably him.

"Okay, now let's try dodging stuff again. You nearly hit a branch the last time, so this run make sure you're careful around the turns."

His assessment had been true. They'd been doing this for a few nights running, him taking her out in his dragonfly, or vice versa, but tonight he wanted to try something different. He directed her back to the house early (there was still a good time left before dawn) and disembarked. When she made to follow, he held up a hand.

"You're on your own, kid. Now," he said, voice taking on a timbre that if he didn't know better would say was taunting, "let's see what you can do."

He boarded his dragonfly and lifted off in one adroit motion. Sakura watched for a moment, putting the pieces together. Then, she smiled and her own dragonfly sprung into life.

Kurogane glanced behind him once or twice in his rear-view mirrors to make sure that she was keeping up and that take-off had gone alright. When she finally caught up and was holding steady with him, he issued another challenge.

"Just how good do you think you are at manuervering?"

Dark clouds flowed in from the west, draping over stars sparkling, and dampening the sky over the big city. She paused, the shift in winds sending her pig-tailed hair whipping out behind her.

"Pretty good."

"Alright." He replied, hands tightening on the controls. "Keep up with me then."

And with that, he plummeted down rapidly, expert timing allowing him to pull up just before hitting the tree tops.

There was a risk to letting her do this, fly on her own without his being physically next to her, but he had enough confidence in her skill to chance it. After all, it wasn't like he could get out and help her in the actual race. She'd be one of the other competitors then, and he'd have to treat her like one more opponent to be surpassed.

She sped along after him, always just a second behind, but not losing ground. She was good, he conceded, and the race wound on. Coming in closer to the city, the thunder rumbled, rolling over the faraway countryside.

A storm was definitely on the way.

"Sakura-hime, are you sure you want to enter the race still?"

It was only to be expected, the ninja thought bemusedly, being that he was the only one that knew about Sakura's late night training sessions, that the kid would be hesitant about the princess entering the race. Syaoran wanted to win the feather as much as any of them, he knew, but he cared so much for the girl that it seemed sometimes like it was overwhelming. Like a mother swallow, not quite wanting its young to leave the safety of the nest.

But sometimes, you just had to let go. Fact of life.

Fai had made lemonade when he wasn't looking. The ninja's eyes narrowed sulkily.

This was upsetting because one of Fai's favorite new pastimes was to add a lot of sugar to things and see if he could get Kurogane to drink, eat, or otherwise ingest them when he was hot and exhausted from flying or fixing broken parts. Kurogane always wondered how Fai had learnt how to pilot a dragonfly. He figured that Syaoran had probably told him during the times they'd been figuring out how the mechanics of the crafts together, but Fai wouldn't let anything slip. He just said it was one more form of magic that Kurogane hadn't been aware of.

"Aww, come on, Kuro-tan! You've got to at least try one sip."

Kurogane's eyes narrowed and his mouth remained firmly closed. He'd realized the hard way that yelling at the mage left your mouth open for an attack. The time that had happened, there had been so much sugar in the drink that he'd had to wash his mouth out with water to try and get the sweetness to stop tingling on his tongue.

"I swear I didn't add any sugar this time!"

Tch. Like he believed that for a second.

"I'll have a drink, Fai-san!" Sakura said, reaching out for a glass.

Fai's face shifted quickly from teasing to serious. "Ah, Sakura-chan, wait--!"

Too late.

Kurogane had never seen such an odd look on the desert princess' face. Her lips puckered strangely together, and her eyes squinted and watered in a strange, scrunched grimace. With a feat of almost inhuman strength, she swallowed. Fai looked slightly abashed.

"I really meant it when I said there was no sugar in them. It makes the lemon's zest really stand out. But, you see, Kuro-bun! If you'd tried one the first time, then you wouldn't have caused Sakura-chan to go through that ordeal. It's torture for someone who loves sweets to have to drink lemonade without sugar."

Kurogane rolled his eyes. You didn't try to guilt trip a ninja. It never worked.

"But, Fai-san," Sakura intervened, anxious to make up for her faux pas, "I honestly didn't mind--"

Fai sighed, patted Sakura on the head, and was going to say something stupid again (Kurogane could tell from the look on his face) when something stopped him.

The pork bun bounced up from the doorway and bounded all the way over to them. It had always been something that Kurogane wondered about: would the manjuu bounce on its own if thrown? He had a feeling that several people would object to him attaining this knowledge. Ah well. Nobody said satisfying curiosity was easy.

"Syaoran has news! Important news!"

The kid ran up from the lane, determination set in every inch of his face. Huffing, he waved to get their attention. Fai waved jovially back.

"Saa, Syaoran-kun, Moko-chan says that you've got something to tell us."

Syaoran nodded, took a moment to catch his breath before divulging what information he'd gleaned. As he did, Kurogane's smile widened.

"There's someone trying to sabotage the Dragonfly Race. They want to make sure that all the other competitors drop out and that they're left as the only ones with a shot at winning the feather. It sounds like they're willing to resort to any means necessary to get the prize."

His brown eyes hardened. "It's not going to be safe for inexperienced riders to try it out any more." And, just like clockwork, Kurogane could predict what would happen next. Syaoran's eyes would lower, he'd ask to talk to Sakura alone, and then the blow would fall. But, what would the reaction be?

Kurogane grinned to himself as he tightened a bolt on the car's door that had gotten a little loose from last night. Fai raised an eyebrow.

"You certainly seem happy to hear about sabotage, Kuro-tan?"

He shrugged. Someone trying to outwit a ninja, a professional saboteur who set traps and knew their signs? Come on. Yeah, he might not know this world and its mechanics as well as his own, but these things didn't change too much from world to world. And besides, it wasn't like he had to disable anything--just as long as he could recognize and evade the traps, he'd be fine. Evasion was another thing he was good at.

He was so lost in thought that he almost forgot to yell at Fai for calling him by one of his myriad strange nicknames. Thankfully, he remembered just in time.

Kurogane was about halfway to the other end of the machine yard with a mallet in hand (Fai was still running as fast as he could ahead of the ninja) when Sakura appeared through the gate, hands balled up into fists, biting her lip. Okay, so he was a little too far too see that she was actually biting her lip, but he imagined that was probably what was happening.

Did it bother him that he was starting to imagine her habits, or that he knew what she would be doing before she did it? That, just as he had predicted, she was coming back from her chat with Syaoran upset and going to him to talk about it?

He considered this for a moment, and exhaled. No. Not really.

In fact, he grinned to himself, letting the mage run himself silly to the other end of the yard, he sort of enjoyed yanking the kid's chain. He took pleasure in what he could. He didn't harbor too many pretensions about his chances with Sakura. It was just something weird on his part. There wasn't a chance she'd return his feelings. Hell, go against destiny? Whatever it was that bound those two together seemed to be pretty relentless in achieving its goal: no matter what worlds they traveled to, it would always be there, pushing the two of them together.

Could you change the course of destiny? Would he want to, knowing how much the kid was giving up for her? Or had she been the one trying to change the way things were going from the start?

She had passed him and gone into the house, not saying a word to him. He'd been right about her lip.

But why...?

Syaoran burst through the gate after her and would have gone into the house, too, if Kurogane hadn't stopped him mid-way.

"What happened out there?"

The kid's eyes were serious and set on the floor as he spoke, as though it were some formality that he needed to get over with, like he had something else he would rather be attending to. Kurogane could guess what. "If saboteurs are going to have a hand in this race, then I don't think it'll be safe for Sakura-hime to compete. We still have a good chance with three of us running the risk--"

He stopped, at Kurogane's arched eyebrow, not expecting that kind of reaction.

"So you told her that you didn't think she was good enough to compete?"

Syaoran nodded slowly, frowning as though he knew he were being backed into a corner. "Her safety is more important to me than winning the feather. Even if we don't win it, we can still talk to the winner and see if they'll be willing to bargain."

Kurogane's mouth settled on an unfamiliar expression, one that seemed neutral and yet bemused at the same time. "You really don't think that she stands a chance of winning, do you?"

Meeting him eye to eye, he watched Syaoran's face change as the realization fell into place. The kid's face was a pageant of emotions, first the ones you couldn't hide, like shock, distrust, and (jealousy?) then a struggle, and then, cold, calm, and collected. It was with the last resolutely on his features that he spoke. "You've been teaching her."

Kurogane decided that he didn't even need to nod to affirm that. The sole fact that the princess could take off and land without crashing pointed straight to him. He felt a crackle on the air, as the winds picked up and blew dark clouds over the sky.

"She's good." He said, succinctly. "If things go wrong in the race, she can handle it."

Syaoran matched him stare for stare, and the two stood, neither giving in, waiting. Then:

"I won't have her needlessly endangered. She's too important to be risked on something like this." Syaoran meant it. Kurogane didn't think the kid wouldn't have, but there was something in his stare, that little extra spark of furor that made him pause. _That_ certainly hadn't been there before. Not this bad.

Heh. Was it really that bad? Hell, it wasn't like he'd even done anything to deserve setting off the kid's possessiveness. If Syaoran trusted destiny, fate, or hitsu-whatever-the-crap-it-was, he was safe. No worries to be had if you're destined for someone, right? They'll come back.

He caught himself wishing that this could be the one time that they wouldn't.

Kurogane turned his back and started to walk away, just as the heavens rumbled and a cool wind whipped around them.

"Fine. But you can't stop her from trying to do things forever. Sometimes, you have to let her do what she wants to."

A white line crackled overhead as the ninja departed and heralded the oncoming storm. And amidst the rain starting to fall and the darkening sky, Kurogane grinned. Things from here on out were sure going to get interesting.


	18. A Second's Hesitation

The sun was burning a yellow-black hole into the sky, and here he was fretting about things. What was he, a coward? It was a clear day; the storms earlier in the week had subsided to dull wisps of cloud, leaving blue skies with only the barest hint of pallor. There was nothing to worry about.

Better not give those creeps with the tricks up their sleeves anything more to throw at them than they already had. Right. Good plan.

"Are you nervous, Kurogane-san?" The kid asked, surveying the crowds gathered in front of them. Kurogane scowled.

Nervous, him? Hell no. Not a chance at all. Yeah, so there were a lot more people coming out to this thing than he would have thought. Yeah, so someone was trying to sabotage the dragonfly race, which probably meant rigging some of the fliers so that they would crash. And when they crashed, there was a good chance that they'd be too far gone to control, let alone land safely...

Damn, he hated air travel. Yeah, flying was fun. Falling was not.

He rolled his eyes to the question, though. Let the kid think that nothing rankled his chain. He was the big, tough ninja, and nothing got to him. You didn't show signs of weakness to your enemy. Though, the thought crossed his mind that he wasn't being perfectly clear to himself whom he'd meant by enemy. Was it the saboteurs or Syaoran?

Hell with it. Today was just perfect for something to go wrong and everything was setting him on edge.

"Saa, this place is so big! But with all these people inside, it almost seems tiny, doesn't it?"

Sakura nodded, in awe.

The magician was right. The Dragonfly Race would be broadcast across televisions through the country, and those that would be watching in person wanted front row seats. He wouldn't be surprised if there were people staking out places along the ravines and sharp turns, just to see which of the racers wouldn't make it. Morbid, but probably true. Then again, he shrugged, as him slighting other people for wanting to see some blood was like the pot calling the kettle black. Oridinarily, Kurogane didn't like idioms (this was probably because the idiot mage had tried to explain to him some nonsense about forests and trees) but this one was alright.

He wondered why this was, thoughts drifting off, when someone shoved him a little too roughly. A growl hitched its way up his throat, and the passersby backed off. This wasn't easy to do in a packed square, but they managed.

They were trying to find the registration check-in counter through the crowd, he recalled, eying some punk darkly. Kurogane took a deep breath and concentrated on searching. Being taller than most people had its advantages. He hadn't seen them too much when they'd had to visit the Little People and he kept hitting his head on things, but here, the good parts about being tall paid off quickly. He caught a glimpse of a sign that pointed them to the left.

He fully expected hi group to be able to follow him. Fai was lithe enough to slip through crowds, and the kids could just come along in his wake. He glanced behind him just in case sabotage meant stealing the people that were doing the racing. Hey, he would have considered it if he were behind this. You can't do much racing without racers.

Syaoran and Fai, with Mokona perched on his head, were behind him. Syaoran was narrowly avoiding being pushed into Kurogane's back by someone with a massive, bright yellow handbag. Sakura was nowhere to be seen.

"Damn it." Trust the most vulnerable-looking one to wander off or get herself stolen. He pushed back through the crowd to where they'd been. Fai and the kid could figure out the rest of it by themselves. There was something more important to attend to. He would have done it in a crowd, kidnapping, then holding someone for ransom.

An image flashed through his mind of Sakura tied up somewhere, or being hied away by some hired hands. He gritted his teeth, a seething glare sweeping over the crowd. How could he be so blind? His breathing hitched up a few notches, all senses going on the alert.

He found her, enraptured by the banners being lifted up by dragonfly riders as they performed acrobatic stunts above in the sky. Her expression was one of wonder, and a tinge of amazement. Putting a hand to his head, he sighed. Alright, well, at least she hadn't been kidnapped.

The strange thing was, his heart hadn't stopped pounding frantically when he'd found her. It unnerved him a bit. The danger was supposed to be over, wasn't it? It was okay. She was here. Not need to be in panic mode. But maybe, another, darker part of him mused, the danger was only just beginning. Either way, his chest didn't slow its pace.

"Don't worry about them. You're twice as good as they are."

She jumped, shocked to hear his voice so close behind her. "Oh, Kurogane-san!" Her hands fluttered before her, anxiously trying to explain away the scene. "I wasn't--"

"Yeah, yeah, come on." He grabbed her by the scruff of her neck almost, and was close to pulling her along after him when he realized the amount of familiarity he was exercising. He dropped his hand. Alright, maybe he was slightly a coward. Big bad ninja and he was getting nervous about a girl thinking he was getting too up close and personal with her, tch. There was a time when he'd have laughed if anyone had told him it would come to this. But now, watching her as she tagged along behind him, like a wary shepherd minding a meandering sheep, he didn't think he'd be laughing. Not any more.

They came upon Syaoran and Fai in line for registration, and instantly the kid was all over her.

Okay, maybe not all over. But the way he was holding her hand (almost desperately, like she were a balloon that would float away at the slightest sign of release) and asking her how she was, whether she'd gotten lost or not, you'd think he was her mother or something. Kurogane crossed his arms and tried to think of other creative ways to show his disapproval without voicing it. He was going to exhale loudly and frown more pronouncedly when Fai poked him in the back with their rolled up registration forms.

"Saa, Kuro-min, you've got to let him have his moments. He's been trying so hard to keep Sakura-chan safe."

Kurogane almost retorted back that the kid hadn't been there for her when they'd lost her for that short time in the crowd, and hadn't even trained her right, but held his tongue. That would only fuel the magician's teasing more, and he wasn't about to give Fai the satisfaction.

Before they reached the counter, the kid whispered something in her ear. Kurogane couldn't hear a thing. The crowd was making noise like any great mass of people will, and even with a heightened sense of hearing, it was impossible for him to figure it out. In the reflection of one of the landed dragonflies, she saw Sakura's face for a second. She looked...scared.

When Fai was filing the papers (Kurogane decided that leaving all the paperwork to him would be the best idea. He had no idea what these people would ask of him, let alone how to write in their weirdo language), he noticed that Sakura kept to the mage's side, as though she were trying to tell him something, eyes cast down at the floor.

Kurogane drew the kid aside, near enough so that they could still see what was going on, but away from the turmoil and noise of the crowd.

"What did you say to her?"

The kid met his eyes, unfaltering. That was always a trait he admired in Syaoran, angry at him or no. The kid didn't do things halfway--if he had a motive for doing something that he knew might go against another person's wishes, then he'd do it, but he wouldn't be afraid to explain it to that person after. He didn't possess the brand of reckless determination that was so common in youth, but rather a determination honed from keeping promises and making good on his word. It was diligence.

"I told her the truth. That we still don't know what's going to happen with the sabotage in the race," he lowered his voice when he said the word 'sabotage', as though the mob would break into frenzy if they knew--would they? Kurogane sort of wanted to find out-- "and that it would be dangerous for someone without much experience flying to enter the race." He sighed. "It's just that even though we want to win, we shouldn't have to win at the expense of our group, by putting another one of us needlessly in danger."

Kurogane frowned. It was a good argument: keep the girl safe, no matter what. But what happened when the girl stopped wanting protection and started wanting to protect herself?

"Have you considered that she might actually want to go?" He said, squinting against the bright metal and the sun. Damn these future worlds and their love of placing shiny metal at every corner. Bright spots attached themselves to his eyes like lichen to rocks. He blinked, trying to dispel them, but to no avail.

"It's too dangerous," Syaoran replied, shaking his head. "Maybe if I'd had more time to give her some lessons in flying, or at least in defending herself..."

"What makes you think that just because you didn't teach her that she didn't get lessons?"

He knew it was a bad thing to say the second he finished saying it. But that was the thing about words: once you said them, all you could do was wait. Kurogane was treated to a show of several different emotions crossing Syaoran's face at the same time, one of them looking oddly like...

Betrayal?

Hell, like he hadn't seen that coming.

The kid recovered quickly, erasing all traces of it from his face, but Kurogane already knew. It made him feel weird, knowing that the kid's greatest fear was his princess leaving him forever, that he would do anything to keep being with her, even though she would never remember him in her past. Perhaps his greatest worry was...

Kurogane thought about it for a while, as he rejoined the group. It was a problem he would have to address someday, both he and Syaoran. Perhaps not today, but sometime in the future, when both of them weren't so willing to run from it. The rift between them would still be there, waiting.

Fai had finished registering them for the race and all had gone well. Well, mostly well. As the magician passed out the golden sheets that identified them as participants in the race, Kurogane chanced to see his dragonfly's name was not at all what he remembered naming it.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?" He yelled at Fai, waving the paper in his direction, livid. The magician smiled and replied:

"They use different naming standards for the race than we thought. You have to have a '-go' at the end, and since yours didn't, I thought up a better one for your racer, Kuro-run!"

"Why the hell didn't you just add a '-go' onto the name I wanted?!"

"It's more fun this way!"

Kurogane ground his teeth, looking bitterly at his flier. It was going to take a hell of a lot of courage to convince himself that competing in a dragonfly named Kurotan-go was worth it.

He noticed out of the corner of his eye, that Sakura seemed to be getting into her dragonfly more slowly, as though something else was preoccupying her mind. Frustrated--damn it, how many things could go wrong for him today?-- he made his way over to her. She looked up, surprised.

"Hey. You better not let what anyone's said get in your way, alright?" He said gruffly, still a bit miffed at the poor naming choice on Fai's part. Sakura nodded, but didn't seem to cheer up. Mokona was perched on her head now, and even the pork bun didn't seem to be improving matters. This vexed Kurogane to no end. All that damn thing was responsible for was to make just about serious occasion frivolous and now it apparently couldn't be bothered to lighten the mood. Hmph. Fine. If it couldn't do its job, then someone had to.

"Look," he said, leaning against the Winged Egg-Go's bright pink and yellow paint, "it's not going to be an easy race, we all know that. But," he continued, pausing for a second as he considered his words and watched Fai and Syaoran get into their dragonflies (Syaoran casting a suspicious glance back now and again), "it's not like you're going to be alone up there, you know."

She nodded again, as lifeless as before. Hell, whatever that kid had said to her had sure taken the wind out of her sails.

"Just do what we've been doing all this time." And, unable to bear seeing her nod, unchanged by his words yet again, Kurogane headed back to his own dragonfly. The race would be starting soon, and it wasn't like there was anything more he could do.

After all, all it took was one person you cared about to make things better or worse. The more you valued them, the more their words meant to and influenced you. Guess he wasn't as big of a threat as Syaoran was making him out to be after all.

* * *

**Author's Note**:

Ugh! Sorry for the wait! School's started and with it has come the craziness of clubs, homework, and figuring out how many trains you'd need to transport three hundred billion dollars in pennies. But, on the upside, new chapter! Yay!

On another note, I'm so happy that people are enjoying this! I'll try to update regularly (as in, times when I'm not swamped with physics problems), so expect this to keep going. This is probably going to be about twenty chapters, so we're almost to the end. Woot!

If you need more KuroSaku, (shameless plug!) I recommend checking out our C2, or writing your own. If you see a KuroSaku fic out there, or have written one and I don't have it in the C2 already, PM me and I'll add it. This pairing needs as much love as it can get.

Anyway, until next time!

--cy.


	19. To Take the Fall

He looked over the edge of his dragonfly. Damn, it was a long way down. Definitely not something he'd like to fall from.

The race had begun with a bang, administered by Tomoyo-hime herself. Only, she wasn't his Tomoyo-hime, just Tomoyo-san here, this world's version of her or something like that. He hadn't completely believed the schoolgirl back in Hanshin when she'd told him that she wasn't Tomoyo (hell, she sure looked just like her), but now, seeing Tomoyo-hime's familiar features grow distant and cold in confusion when he'd spoken to her, to have her actually deny knowing him, he that had been by her side for all those years, protecting her...that had hurt. A lot more than he wanted to admit.

But he couldn't dwell on that now. Letting his feelings get the better of him, especially with something as crucial as this hanging in the balance, was not going to win him any races. Yeah, getting the feather would be nice (he'd never gotten to give any feathers to Sakura, and had an insatiable curiosity to try it once) but he wanted to win the _race_. To prove to that damn magician and kid that he was good at flying, that they needed to take him seriously, and ...damn it!

Why the hell did he have to be the one flying in a dragonfly with a goofy name like Kurotan-go?

The announcer yelled his name and his racer's name out as he took the lead. Kurogane patted the controls consolingly. His dragonfly had done nothing to deserve such an embarrassment.

Fai, the source of most (if not all) his troubles, whizzed around next to him and held speed.

"And Tsubame-go is tied in first with Kurotan-go!"

"You idiot!" He yelled at the magician. "Why did you have to choose such a stupid name for mine?"

Fai shrugged. "But it's so cute, Kuro-tan!"

"Arrgh!" Kurogane tried to put the detestable nature of the name out of his mind, instead listening to the announcer as he called out the names of the last few dragonflies. Looked like Sakura and Syaoran were still in the race. Good.

They approached the first check-point, and Kurogane snatched the golden badge out of the air deftly, keen eyes sighting it and swift reflexes grabbing it one handedly. He smirked to himself as Fai smacked his badge together with both hands, exhibiting none of his companion's dexterity.

Something in the distance made him frown.

"The hell?"

Okay, so he figured that this world's Tomoyo was a little excessive. It came with the territory. But, seriously, a tube that pretended to be a dragon and writhed as you flew through it? Where had that come from? His brow furrowed. Did_ his_ Tomoyo have the same devious streak in her? Kurogane thought about that for a while, and decided that yes, yes she did.

With that comforting thought in mind, he sped up, knuckles tightening on the wheel. Damn, he missed being back home. None of this wacky crap to deal with. And certainly no Kurotan-go. But, was there something he'd miss about not being here...?

He wondered about that sometimes.

Fai did a somersault mid-air and whistled in his own way, which was almost like whistling, but not quite.

"Hyuu! Scared, Kuro-bun?"

Kurogane smiled darkly.

"You wish."

He maneuvered his dragonfly through the tubing, quickly accustoming himself to the bucking and swaying. Then, just as he and Fai were at the end, the whole thing kicked.

Kurogane gritted his teeth and, spying the opening, flew upside down until he made it out. He was about to gibe at Fai, when he noticed that the magician wasn't beside him anymore, let alone behind him at all. He glanced back, in time to see a familiar winged craft spiral out of the tube at an odd angle and careen into the water.

The magician's head appeared on a nearby screen, smile still ever in place, crossing his arms above his head ruefully in a gesture of surrender.

Damn it. One down, three to go.

"And the Kurotan-go pulls back ahead to the lead!"

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!"

"But can he survive the caverns? It'll take more than speed to win this race, even if that worked for him in the preliminaries!"

Kurogane rolled his eyes. What, did they think that he hadn't thought of that, and hadn't prepared himself accordingly? Tsh. If there was anyone who knew how devious Tomoyo could be, it was him. Yeah, they might be different from world to world, but all the Tomoyo's he'd met seemed to share the same uncanny characteristics. He'd known what to look for and had trained for the worst case possible.

Sabotage, naturally, was pretty bad. But being in the air, liable to attack from all sides--damn! He hadn't even been able to see that tube's twitch coming until it almost had him...

He looked in one of the television screens and saw Sakura go into a drive, one so sharp that, had he not seen her do the same move countless times during her training, he might have thought she was truly falling. A few seconds later, she pulled up, the first badge clasped in her hand. Kurogane let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Trust that girl to be lucky.

But he had more problems on his plate than wondering how his protege was doing. Navigating the maze would be tricky, unless he--

"Hell, why don't I fly over the damn thing?"

"Flying over the cavern is a disqualification! Any participants caught above the cavern will be no longer eligible for the prize."

Kurogane yelled back at the loudspeaker, lividly, "You just like making everything you can a little extra headache for me, don't you?"

Somewhere behind him, toward the end of the racers, a girl smiled, eyes still determinedly set on the track ahead of her. The white creature on her dashboard looked up at her quizzically. "Mokona is glad that Sakura is smiling again, but why? Mokona thought that Sakura was worried about the race and the sabotage still..."

Sakura shook her head, narrowly avoiding an obstacle. "I'm still nervous, Moko-chan. It's just," she paused, as the concentration needed for navigating through the tubing prevented her from speaking, "Kurogane-san always gets really angry when he's nervous." She paused. "And a lot of other times, too. I know I should be really nervous if he's nervous already, but..." She shook her head again, this time careful to avoid taking her eyes from the course. "For some reason, I can't help but laugh."

Kurogane certainly wasn't laughing now. His eyes narrowed. If the cliffs weren't so perilous-looking and going after the announcer wouldn't get him kicked out of the race, he would have taken a swing at that jerk again. Between being referred to by a goofy nickname in front of millions of people (Syaoran had explained television cameras and what they implied) and enduring the crowd's gasps whenever he veered too far to an edge, he couldn't see how sabotage could make things any worse.

Something crashed behind him, and Kurogane glanced at the screen, knowing that it would be the first to herald the bad news. Sure enough, two dragonflies were out of commission. Syaoran's, it looked like, had crashed into someone else's, and the play-back showed the kid trying to prevent another racer from slamming into a jagged edge of the cliff, something sure to cause injury. Kurogane shook his head, weaving through the rocks. You had to be ruthless to win this race. The kid had too much humanity in him to try and avoid the falling craft. So, now it was just him and the princess.

He flew through the geysers, eyesight able to detect the subtle shifts in the water below him before they set themselves off. And, surprisingly, the hum of an engine grew in the distance until someone came to fly next to him.

"Kurogane, look!" Mokona cheered. "We've caught up to Kurogane, Sakura! Isn't that good?"

Sakura's eyes were focused on the rising water before her. As soon as a spout shot up, she immediately overcompensated, veering wildly to the left and right.

"Waa! Mokona doesn't like all this twisting!"

Kurogane chanced a look over. Sure enough, Sakura, white-knuckled and frowning slightly with concentration, was grasping the controls like they'd wriggle out of her hands the second she relaxed. He shook his head.

"Hey."

Kurogane's voice was firm and carried to her across the gap above the water.

"You're just going to leave yourself open and be more likely to get caught off guard by one of those if you keep doing that." He sighed, annoyed. "Don't you have some sort of nature power or something? Can't you feel when they're going to strike?"

Sakura's eyes widened. Yeah, she did. She'd been so worried, she'd completely ignored the twinges she has felt in the back of mind from the disturbances in the water. Closing her eyes, she relaxed her grip on the controls, and flew at normal speed, keeping pace with Kurogane as he wove through the water with her.

"And it looks like the Kurotan-go and Winged Egg-go are tied in the lead! There's only a little further to go before the finish line, and competitors are fast dwindling! Who will win?"

Kurogane grimaced at the disembodied voice. He knew it came from speakers, but had no idea where all the speakers were, so it made glaring at them difficult.

"Hey, kid."

Sakura looked over for a moment, not breaking her concentration, in reply.

What was he going to say? 'Let's see how mad they get if we make it a tie' had been the original thought, but...he stole a glance at her. She'd wanted to win this thing since the beginning. She'd trained and trained, wanting to prove to them, to everyone out there watching them, both in this world and out of it, that she wasn't just sitting around and letting things happen to her, that she could win back her own feathers, that she could be a force to be reckoned with.

He understood how she felt. Way back when, a long time before any of this started, he'd known a small boy from a lord's house that had felt the same way. If she was serious about it, then, hell, he'd be serious about it, too.

"I won't hold back."

She nodded, face grim. Kurogane looked over and frowned.

"You're putting too much stress on your left wing. If something catches you offside, you're toast."

Sakura turned, a disbelieving half-smile on her lips. "Kurogane-san! I'm never going to learn if you don't let me make mistakes!"

He shurgged. Fine. But, to his satisfaction, he did see her right the wing problem.

Of course, he also saw something else.

A geyser, one out of rhythm with the others, was barreling straight up toward her. He wanted to yell to her to get out of the way, that this was the sabotage they'd been dreading coming to get them, but--

There was no time. Her eyes still held his, catching the darkness sweeping over them and widening at the change, but not sensing the danger fast approaching.

She wouldn't make it.

And so, with a flick of the wheel to set the course, he jerked both joysticks to the side and braced himself.

Sakura barely had time to register the impact of the water on one side, when she was hit with another force, hurling her sideways nearly into a wall. She spun out of the jet's way, only to see Kurogane reel for control of his soaked dragonfly as the water receded beneath him, and to watch his features slacken and face pale as he realized the engines had fallen completely silent, clogged with water.

He fell, in what seemed to Sakura the longest fall possible.

Millions of thoughts flooded through his mind as he'd rammed into her. Would she hate him for taking her seriously one moment and then saving her the next? He'd had to do it--the absoluteness of the thing unnerved him. Kurogane had never felt compelled to risk anything for anyone before, anyone except Tomoyo. But that was a special case. He just didn't like giving up things that he'd worked so hard to get. Like how Syaoran refused to dodge that guy that was falling into him, so that the other person wouldn't be hurt. Kurogane couldn't do that. So what if something happened to you? That was life. You deal with it.

Maybe had been working with her as she tried to get better, not wanting all that time to be for naught. Maybe he'd just all of a sudden gone soft (though he doubted this very much). Whatever the case, he had just been physically unable to let her get disqualified like that. Just when she was learning to trust herself and her abilities, to have everything undone because of some bastard wanting to win by cheating--

No. That was something he couldn't allow. He'd felt the pain of being close to winning and being deprived of it at the last moment by someone's trickery. He was confident in himself to get past it. Sakura shouldn't have to face that.

And so, he fell.

From pride, grace, and glory, he plummeted down to the ground, hands barely raising in time to shield his face as he hit the water.

Sakura stopped, hovering over the spot where he'd gone down. She felt the rush of wind as the other racers tentatively brushed by, ever watchful of the geysers now that it apparently had put an end to both the race's leaders. Something was ringing in her ears and her chest felt stiff and brittle, as though taking one more breath would cause it to shatter--

Something broke through her worry, a voice, hoarse with the effort of shouting.

"Go!"

Kurogane's head had broken the surface, and he was absolutely soaked. He shook the water out of his hair and glanced upward. It was hard to tell what he was more angry at: the saboteurs for their duplicity, or Sakura for waiting around. He scowled, fierce and unbridled anger prickling off his skin.

"What the hell are you waiting around for?" He yelled up at her, as she lingered, frozen. "Just do it already! Go!"

And something clicked. Sakura nodded, and raced off.

Kurogane exhaled, his eyes trailing the path of her dragonfly as she raced through the geysers to the finish line. He watched as she dipped, twirled, and dodged past her competitors just as surely as she'd avoided the trees in the woods, surpassing them all, until...

He hadn't even needed to watch the screen (though there was one right across the crevasse from him), or listen for the cheers (though they echoed all the way down to him). He knew what would happen. He knew.

Stranded on his defunct dragonfly until the rescue team came to get him (damn it, ninjas didn't need to be rescued--he was half debating on swimming, geysers or no geysers, just to salvage what little remained of his pride), he rung the water out of his scarf, which hung limp and weighty around his neck.

Somewhere, people would be talking about his spectacular fall, how one contestant was so concerned about his teammate that he was willing to risk being thrown into the treacherous water, take the shock of knowing your craft mid-air couldn't fly anymore, and endure the terrifying agony of the plunge, uncontrolled and unstoppable, as gravity kicked in.

He chuckled to himself. There had been a lot more, less news-worthy falls before that, little slips, that had made that last great descent possible. Some of them got lost in the shuffle of everyday things, unnoticed and overlooked. Others were every bit as spectacular, but no one had seemed to pay attention to them.

Sighing, he posted his lonely watch on his rock, and he wondered how soon it would be before someone else figured it out. Maybe they already had. On the screen, Sakura grinned ecstatically, trophy in her hands, waving out to the crowd.

Out to him?

Heh. Like that would happen.

Nonetheless, he gave the smiling, pixelated portrait a nod back in acknowledgment. Hell, when you'd fallen this far, there wasn't too much left to go.

* * *

**Author's Note**:

Sorry for the delay! It's mid-terms, quarterlies, or whatever they're calling themselves now, and I'm swamped. I actually should be studying for a test, but I needed something to relax with for a little while. This was supposed to go out last week. Hopefully the next couple of chapters won't take so long.

As always, thanks so much for the reviews! I'm always glad to see that people are enjoying this (as I try to hammer out what I'm going to do with the sequel...) and this is great encouragement.

**Larania Drake** : You called it! I'd been meaning to get to the interesting KuroTomo issues going on, and here they are. It would be really neat to explore this more from a KxT point of view, and go more in depth with the isolation and weirdness of being unrecognized by someone you care about...but that's another project.

**IceQueen** : ...Perhaps. Fai might also be enjoying himself quite a bit by watching Kurogane get all frustrated and annoyed by his feelings. But, soon.

**.xXxRoCk aNgEL xXx.** : Wow, people are calling all my shots lately! Yup, the title (and basically the framework of this fic) is pretty much all based on that song. I was wondering how long it would take for someone to notice that. You get the cookie prize!

**kuroineko** : yay! Thanks so much! I've enjoyed writing this, so it's always good to see that like reading it, too! Hope this chapter lived up to expectations.

Alright, that's it for now. Physics and special relativity willing, the next chapter will come around soon. If not, soon after that. And now, back to studying for Cog Psych.

--cy.


	20. His Paper Heart IV: Spring Blossoms

Some race worker sprang up to offer him yet another towel. Kurogane glared at him and the man backed off, wary of the I-swear-I'll-punch-you-in-the-face-if-you-even-think-of-it look. Kurogane had spent a lot of time perfecting that, and was pleased to see that it had its desired effect on overly energetic people.

"Kuro-tan! You look soaked!"

Kurogane scowled. Well, most overly energetic people, anyway.

"Have you seen Sakura-chan yet? She's so happy! Though," the magician nudged him in the shoulder teasingly, "I think she owes you one. Saa, what made our hard-hearted ninja take the plunge? Inquiring minds want to know, Kuro-bun."

Kurogane was amazed at how many nicknames Fai had managed to fit into barely a minute's worth of conversation. The mage found new ways to astound him every day.

"Just shut up."

Fai looked a little put out, but quickly recovered. "Ah, Kuro-min! Sakura-chan's the other way."

"Maybe I don't want to talk to her, you ever thought of that? And stop calling me those names!"

Shrugging, Fai walked back to the winner's area, going to congratulate his teammate on her win. Kurogane, meanwhile, headed in the opposite direction, away from the crowds. He hated large gatherings, and whether it was because of the sheer volume of people packed into one space, the logistical nightmare of guarding someone in that, or just because he tended to dislike people, and he'd rather leave quickly.

His dragonfly was totaled, so that meant that he wouldn't be going anywhere on that any time soon. He dug his hands into his pockets, and began to walk the length of the course. Over in the gulch and riverbed, he could see teams working to haul out the crashed dragonflies and return them to their owners. People here tended to reuse the same crafts through different races, so they'd just fix up the broken parts, tack on some new things, and they'd be all set.

He sighed, watching a team haul the mangled heap of paint and metal that had once been his out of the water. Technically it still was his, but hell, it wasn't like they were going to be flying around on these things any more. The kid wouldn't have the time to fix everything up, and then the group would probably want to move on anyway.

He'd miss flying. As a ninja, you don't tend to do too much in the way of aerial stunts, unless you're extremely skilled or have a death wish. Being able to actually fly...that had been pretty cool.

Of course, he'd never say that to any of them.

He grimaced as the wings buckled under the force of the ropes and bent at a strange angle. Yeah, good luck getting that to work again.

Something rustled behind him, and he reached instinctively to his back. He hadn't been permitted to bring Sohi along with him on the trip, so he'd found a handy sheath that fit against the curve of his spine, where he could store a long dagger or shortsword. It wasn't his choice for doing battle since it called for closer combat than he liked, but he sure as hell wasn't about to be caught unprepared.

"Kurogane-san! I was looking for you!"

Sakura's face was flushed with excitement, roses in her cheeks and (clearly) a song in her heart, as she bounded over to where he was sitting. She nearly stumbled off a cliff in the getting there, which made Kurogane lurch out of his seat (he would have been too late, he knew), but she quickly regained her balance. The moment even made her laugh.

"I almost can't believe it! At the beginning, I was so nervous about what everybody was saying, and then when the sabotage happened with the first medal...!" She exhaled happily, sitting down beside him. He looked away.

Yeah, maybe she was fine with all this, but he needed some more time, okay?

"Kurogane-san..." She said, questioningly. "There's something that I was wondering about."

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, knowing it would come to this. Abruptly, he spoke, desirous to circumvent any questions before they could be asked.

"Look, it's something that I just did on instinct. You don't have to be mad that I helped. It just didn't seem like it was--" was what? Right? Fair? Since when did he play by the rules of fairness or obey the laws of right and wrong? "--the best way for you to learn. You get sabotaged all the time, then how are you going to know how to cope with things?"

Kurogane hoped that that hadn't been too frank. Sakura looked a little confused, but then began to nod furiously.

"Right! I could even feel the water cry out that someone was tampering with it..." She snapped to her feet. "Ah, the saboteurs! We've got to find them!"

Kurogane held the back of her collar as she made to walk off. "Hey, cool it." He said, shaking his head ruefully. "Knowing Tomoyo's people, they've already figured it out and have apprehended the guys behind it. They probably just didn't want to ruin your moment. "

"You really think so?"

He nodded solemnly. He knew Tomoyo's guards from Nihon and thus far they seemed about as dedicated and proficient in their job here as they had back home.  
He shook off the bad mood. It was harder and harder for him to be angry around Sakura. Maybe it was because she brought out something in him that so few people got a chance to see.

It was like he was always living in the fall.

Autumn was his favorite season. He liked the way that trees painted themselves with color and took great pleasure in the satisfying crunch that arose from stepping on leaves. He liked how the season stood between two extremes: the burning rage of summer, and the cold distance of winter. But Sakura was something completely different.

She was the softer side of things: the warm breath of renewal, and the cool breeze carrying a blossom's fragrance. If anything, she was spring, and she was about as opposite from him as you could get.

But, somehow, here they were, standing together at the end of things, comfortable in each other's company.

It had been a long while and many worlds since he'd met someone like that.

He gave her collar a playful tug. "So what? You gonna spend the rest of your victory day sitting around with me? Come on, you've got better things to do." He began pulling her gently along.

"Ah! Kurogane-san!" She cried, surprised both by the action and the nonchalant way he was going about it. "There's still something I need to ask you!" She caught her breath. "Will you...um," She seemed to be searching for the right word.

"What?"

"Ah..." She bit her lip.

"I don't have all day." He grabbed her hand, and led her off into the busy streets again, intending to head back home. Oh, what a bad move that had been. The streets were crowded, both with onlookers, fans, and more strange people with black boxes and sticks than he could count.

"Excuse me, Sakura-san! Can we have an interview for the Piffle Daily?"

"Congrats, Sakura-san! Three cheers for--"

"Miss! How did you manage to pull off that last stunt? All the racers are taking about it!"

"Oh, sir! Were you the one that sacrificed his shot at the championship so that--"

Kurogane frowned at the onslaught and found himself with a very overwhelmed Sakura, who was dutifully trying to answer all of the questions. Setting his expression in an intimidating glare and steeling himself for the worst, he pulled her away from the crowd and glowered back at them as they tried to follow. Eventually, they fell away, though a lot were still lurking in corners.

Once they were both settled in at a table at the Compass Rose, Kurogane took a savage bite out of his croissant. Even now, inquisitive (and reckless) people were trying to get a glimpse of them through the window.

"Guess this is why it's so damn convenient to change worlds. They're treating you like a superstar, kid. No way we could escape notice for much longer if we stuck around here."

Sakura looked at the reporters and curious customers, then turned her attention back to the window. "I like it here, though. I wish sometimes that we didn't have to leave all these worlds so soon. I'd like to stick around for a while."

"Tsh." Kurogane shook his head, and Sakura looked at him, confused. He caught the glance and explained himself. "You weren't stuck in Shura for a year. I'm perfectly fine with moving on after that. Besides," he added, "it's not like there's any other way for me to get home, right?"

Her face fell and it puzzled the hell out of Kurogane. Why shouldn't she be happy to see him go? He'd seen her face when he'd cut down lines of living people (okay, maybe not _killed_, but it was well within the scope of his power). He knew that somewhere, no matter how much she might convince herself otherwise, that he still frightened her. But why did she spend so much time with him? Was it really just to get over that fear?

Some part of him couldn't accept that.

"Kurogane-san..." She murmured, eyes downcast. "There's something I think I need to tell you. I've been thinking about it for a long time, and I think...ah," she blushed, words not coming.

Instantly, every alarm in his mind sounded. Aw hell, here it comes. His fingers tapped the tabletop without his instructing them to do so. Was she really about to say what he thought she was? Did she think of him that way? Or was he just overreacting? An flurry of questions flew through his head. He tried to concentrate on breathing evenly without letting signs of stress show.

Meanwhile, Sakura was having problems of her own.

"I...um, it's just that...Oh, it's so hard to express. It's like the words are on the tip of my tongue, but then I can't decide how best to say them. Okay." She took a deep breath. "This is it. Kurogane-san, I-- Kurogane-san, are you going to be okay?"

He was not handling this well. His eyes were boring into her, made intense by worry and anticipation. His knuckles had turned white and somewhere in the back of his brain, a voice told him that his hands were aching. But none of that really mattered.

"Just say it already!" He said, a little louder than he needed to.

"A-ah, okay...Just give me a second..." She took a few more deep breaths and closed her eyes, evidently visualizing her words, lips moving ever so tantilizingly...

He couldn't take it any more. To hell with this.

"You just don't get it, do you?" He nearly roared. "There's a reason I've been doing all these things. Don't you--"

He broke off, Sakura's face wide and shocked in front of him, eyes filled with...fear? He swallowed the rest of his anger and focused himself on keeping calm.

"Look, I've been a little stressed today."

Sakura nodded sympathetically, nervousness still hovering around her face. "Yeah, it's been that kind of day for everyone, huh?" She closed her eyes again, and smiled.

"Thank you, Kurogane-san."

Something in his countenance must have looked strange to her, because she felt the need to explain why.

"For teaching me how to fly, and for saving me there at the end." She laughed a little, falling back into comfortable territory. "Today really wouldn't've been possible if it hadn't been for you."

It was the smile that came after that, though, that really melted his heart.

She met him eye-to-eye, stroked a lock of auburn hair behind her ear, and smiled. He looked away, even though he really didn't want to. There were times when it was more advantageous not to show your hand. But somewhere in him, the iron heaved, and slowly, ever slowly, fell away.

As they made to leave, Kurogane halted a few paces from the door and frowned. "Hell, they've got this place staked out."

News cameras pressed in on the small windows of the cafe, and the owner was out front hastily and rather unsuccessfully trying to discourage the reporters from taking up space in front of his institution if they weren't going to buy anything. Some of the media relented and sent waitresses scurrying back and forth with orders for black coffees, but most didn't, instead watching the inside of the cafe with eagle eyes.

Kurogane, being trained in very many ninja arts, knew what was called for here. He pointed to a back exit surreptitiously, careful not to arose any of the onlookers' attention. (This was complemented by a few threatening stares at those who "happened" to glance over. They quickly happened to glance back) "Go out through that door, and then cut across the grove to the left. You'll wind up basically in our backyard."

Sakura nodded, ready to set out on her mission. However, something wasn't yet settled..."Where are you going?"

Kurogane smiled, one that wasn't his manic smile but more a look of begruding acquiescence. "I'm going to be a decoy. Go on."

And with that, he had his hand on the door, hoping that she'd made her way out. A storm of flashes and clicks besieged him as he tried to force the cafe door closed behind him. Oh hell.

"Sir! Was that the winner of the Dragonfly Race we saw you with?"

"What is your relation to--"

"Were you injured in the fall?"

"Rumors say--"

"How concerned were you at the race, with the geysers?"

"Are you her significant other?"

"Why did you--"

Kurogane sighed, and held them off as long as he could without saying anything. By the time he made it out of the fray, he was exhausted, and in need of some alone time. He came back to the house with the sun low on the horizon, as preparations for the awards ceremony were being made.

Hell, he was nothing if not full of sacrifices today, wasn't he?

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Hey guys! Thanks for reading, as always. I think I owe some people an apology-- this has been a chapter especially long in the writing. I've actually had it written for a while, but I didn't like how I had crafted the ending, so it's getting a little bit of a belated makeover from what I have up on LJ. I'm realizing (as I do each summer) just how much fun it is to write Kurogane's voice and just how bad my writing from the previous year was.

School was a little more hectic than last year (cy does summer school because she has a lot of courses to take) and I took three courses over the summer instead of one, which I did last year and gave me more free time. So, hopefully that explains my delayed resurrection on the fanfic scene. I plan on doing a lot more, so look for a new KuroSaku (sequel!) to appear once I finish OOC&aPH and get my claims tables all sorted out and joyous on LJ. I tend to post stuff first to LJ, edit more, and then post here, so if you're desperate (or just curious), you can read the first drafts of everything there (but please don't kill me for my mistakes xD).

Hope you enjoy, and here's to you, reader--thanks for accompanying me along on this crazy ride. Whatever the comments, love it, hate it, or just keeping me informed of my mistakes (thanks! xD ), I've loved reading all your reviews.

See you at the end.

--cy.

* * *


	21. Last Tears to a Paper Heart

"New clothes?" Kurogane said suspiciously, eying the plastic bag on his bed. He hated it when people bought him things without telling him. Somehow the clothes they picked out always ended up being...not quite to his tastes.

"Yup, Kuro-min! Everyone's going to look great when Sakura-chan accepts the feather."

Scratch that. Anything the magician had bought was doomed to be humiliating and impractical.

Kurogane half expected the shirt to be pink, or red, to bring out his eyes. Tsh. He wondered why it was so hard for people to grasp the fact that he liked wearing black more than any other color. Why try something new when he'd already found something that worked? Some people would never make sense to him.

The clothes weren't as bad as he had been imagining, but still not that great. A pair of dark blue jeans, a navy undershirt, and white dress shirt all tumbled out when he upended the bag, along with a belt that looked like it would be more suited to being used as a holiday garland than holding pants up. Leaving out the belt--the pants were tight enough-- he dressed, and left the shirt tails untucked. Whoever said that you could fight and still manage to look all tucked in and presentable was lying through their teeth.

He hadn't seen Sakura since the incident of the afternoon, and since the awards ceremony was going to take place at dusk, he was a little concerned. But from the sounds of Fai rushing around trying to get everyone ready, she had arrived safely and had avoided being mobbed.

Kurogane sighed. He wasn't looking forward to this big gathering, especially seeing this world's Tomoyo again. He just...it was hard to explain. It was still difficult trying to convince himself that her guards were doing an adequate job and that she wasn't the same as the one he'd left in his world. He didn't like it when things changed, when he had to cope with new things that weren't there before.

Fai burst through the door.

Like, say, that.

"Kuro-min! Kuro-min! Look!" His voice crescendoed as he held out an object for the ninja to examine. Kurogane stared at it, confounded. It appeared to be a milk catron (Syaoran had pointed them out once) and it had been opened. However, instead of containing milk, it held...

"What on earth is this?" Kurogane frowned, fishing out a smaller, milk-carton shaped toy. Fai beamed.

"Isn't it clever? Imagine, toys inside of milk!"

Kurogane shook his head and let the magician gush over this new find. Sometimes, there were things that probably were left better uninvented, if only for their complete uselessness. As well as for the fact that they made that magician more happy than should be legal.

He exited his room and walked down into the kitchen, leaving Fai to his own devices.

"Alright, are we done yet?" He called up the stairs irritably, dressed snazzily and waiting for the rest the dragonfly winner's entourage to present themselves. The sounds of drawers slamming and lights being clicked on (and then the rather disconcerting crash of breaking glass) drifted down the stairs, and eventually, Sakura appeared.

"Ah, sorry for keeping everyone waiting!" She said, as she bounded down the steps, clearly flustered. "I couldn't find my..."

Her voice trailed off as she saw Kurogane's look.

It wasn't like he'd never seen her in formal attire before. They'd been to so many worlds that seeing people change clothes was almost an expected part of their daily routine. Maybe it was the way the gown flowed around her, swishing as she moved, like some sort of unseen breeze was causing the edges to flick-flick just so. (Kurogane wouldn't have put it past the magician.) But, something inside him told him that that wasn't it.

If there was anything making the dress so exquisite, it was Sakura herself. Her smile shone brighter than the small necklace she wore, and her eyes' sparkle outgleamed the glimmer in her shawl. Too have called her pretty would have been an understatement.

Breath-taking, he admitted, was probably a better word for it.

Then, ticked with himself for letting his thoughts wander so far down _that_ direction-- wasn't this afternoon enough? -- his eyes lost their wide look, and his face fell back into his typical expression of subtle disdain.

"Tsh. These guys are late as usual." A mechanical bell rang on some clock in the distance. Weren't they going to be late or something?

Kurogane wasn't a fan of arriving on time, or even early. Being late let you make an impression, showed the other guy that, yeah, you were that important that everyone else would hold up the show for you. But this wasn't his affair, and Sakura's eyes wandered back up the stairs and lingered there, too.

"Jerks." He muttered, half-convinced that this was being done on purpose. And then, he decided that if he was already going to hell in a handbasket for all his lapses, then he might as well make the most of it. He grabbed Sakura's hand gently, (or as gently as a ninja's grab can be) and walked her out the door.

"Kurogane-san?" Sakura's brow was knit with confusion. "Aren't we going to wait for Fai-san and Syaoran-kun?"

He rolled his eyes. "They'll catch up."

The awards ceremony was being held as a gala event at the Piffle Corporation Headquarters, in the magnificent glass-encased ballroom. A flurry of strange machines were hung from the walls, some of them still working and entertaining the guests as they entered.

"Sakura-chan! Oh, the dress looks great on you! I knew it would!" A girl in a dark purple dress cooed as they entered, clasping her hands together and rushing forward to greet them. Kurogane looked away to hide his shock.

No matter how natural it sounded coming from this girl's lips, he would never quite get used to hearing Tomoyo get excited about dressing people up.

He thought he saw her frown slightly as she appraised his own outfit (what? Was it not formal enough?) but the expression was so quickly gone that it might just have been a twitch of her mouth.

Preparations were underway, and Kurogane hovered around in the background, trying not to get in the way of anyone but still close enough to have a clear path to Sakura. Maybe it was just instinct. If he couldn't guard one princess, then he would guard the other one, or something like that.

Sakura laughed in her conversation, a sound of wind rushing through bells, and he began to doubt that.

He found Fai and Syaoran hurrying in and glancing around, and waved for them to come over. The ceremony was mercifully brief, with a small introductory speech from the chairman, and then Tomoyo gave her speech as president about the importance of dragonflies and racing. What surprised him, though, was the acceptance part.

Sakura stood there with her feather in hand, which was encased in some weirdo, magical substance, and then asked that all of her teammates stand as well. Cheers poured through the hall, echoing off the glass walls and ceiling as she bowed and thanked them for all that they had done, both for their teamwork and their aid in catching the saboteurs.

It was over pretty quickly. Kurogane had been half-expecting, half-dreading a dance (wasn't the place just asking for one, with those wide glass walls, sweeping marble floors, and dim lights?), but apparently the event planners had decided differently in light of recent circumstances that a dance would not be as welcome. Good-byes were said, along with wishes and entreaties that they might all compete in the winter races, where the dragonflies were altered slightly to be able to fly on and over snow and through squalls. Promising they'd consider, the group eventually made it back home, exhausted.

Sakura, still dressed in her evening finery, plonked the gem encasing the feather down on the kitchen table with a quizzical expression.

"Does anyone have any idea how to get the feather out?"

Fai was immediately on it. "Of course, Sakura-chan! Magic!" He began to whistle, or at least made valiant attempts at whistling, none of which were terribly successful. "If I can get the pitch right, the jewel should shatter. Hyuu..."

Looking taken aback, Syaoran intervened before the magician got in a good whistle. "Wait! Won't that send the shards all over us?"

Fai stopped and considered. "Saa, you're right. Perhaps we should get safely goggles before I keep trying..."

Syaoran shook his head hastily. "It looks pretty fragile as it is, Fai-san. I bet if I took it outside and kicked it, it'd break. Or at least crack." He nodded, resolved to do his best for his friend. Sakura handed him the stone, which had started to glow slightly ("See, Kuro-bun? Look, it's already working!"), and a moment later they heard the woosh of Syaoran's swing, and then a very stifled "Ow!"

Kurogane sighed, watching as the boy limped back inside, trying not to let the injury show too much. When Sakura had finished fretting about his foot and had seen that it was properly attended to and iced, Fai wanted to try his whistling again. They hadn't found any goggles or other protective eyewear, so they constructed a barricade out of the kitchen table and chairs, and waited behind the barracks as the wizard tried to whistle.

This lasted about fifteen minutes before Fai heaved a great sigh, winded, and his shoulders slumped exhaustedly.

"I'm sorry...Sakura-chan," he wheezed merrily, dizzy with his efforts, "I'm just too tired... and my mouth is starting to ache."

Kurogane tshed as he poured a glass of ice water for the idiot mage, and glared at the feather. Well, that left only one thing more to try.

When Fai and Syaoran had retired for the night, each invalid helping the other up the stairs, Kurogane scooped the feather-stone up and went outside. Mokona bounded after him and Kurogane glimpsed a flash of the creature's white fur through the night. For once, he was actually happy to see it.

"Good. Pork bun, spit up my sword."

Mokona bounced around annoyedly. "Kurogane doesn't understand! Mokona doesn't eat the things Mokona stores, Mokona sucks them up! Like a vacuum!"

Kurogane held out a hand expectantly, wondering what the hell a vak hume was and then deciding that he didn't care. Probably just some fish, anyway.

Sakura made her way curiously out the door just as he'd extracted the sword. Kurogane grinned to himself, feeling justified in his choice of clothes. See? Told you that formal wear needed to be able to fought in. He straightened and flexed his fingers. The girl stood at the edge of the clearing in the backyard, head cocked to one side, wondering both what he was up to and whether he'd seen her yet. Which was a bit of a silly thought, considering that he was a ninja and knew exactly where she was at all times, although one did not imply the other.

"Kurogane-san? What are you doing?"

He gripped the handle and prepared to go into the stance. "It's not gonna break if you just kick it or try straight-up magic, right? So why not try both?"

She nodded slowly, not quite understanding, and then her face lit up. "Oh! So by using one of your sword techniques, you make sure it's hit with a physical attack as well as a ..." She frowned, losing her confidence as the idea escaped. "Are your techniques magic?"

He grinned again, a devil-may-care look spreading across his face. "We'll see. Step back a bit." She did, and he launched into a bright series of maneuvers, culminating in a smashing line straight through the hard jewel. Something cracked and made a strange whinning sound, but nothing more.

Kuorgane glared at the clear gem unkindly. "Guess not."

He was actually kind of disappointed. All those times his father had shown him those maneuvers as a kid, he'd been so sure that they contained some flicker of magic...had it really just been his imagination?

He was about to give up, but Sakura had other ideas. "What about me? Fai-san says that I have magic, but you also taught me how to use a sword, so maybe I can combine them. Or something."

He nodded. Hell, seemed logical enough to him. He thought for a moment and then spoke. "Alright, but you're going to need a technique that will break the stone without it breaking some part of you in the backlash."

"I'll do it." She said, and he could read the fervor and dedication in her voice. Well, nothing left but to get down to it.

Something in him was a little reluctant to pass this technique on. The only way that battle arts stayed alive was with someone still left living to practice them, and if anything happened to him, well, that would be it, the end of the long line of Suwa swordfighting skills. Besides, she was his pupil after all. She'd been taught in the same style, so if there was anyone who ought to learn it, it was undoubtedly Sakura.

"Hey, manjuu, get her sword, too."

"Mokona doesn't appreciate being called names of food!"

"Do it already!"

At that, Mokona recovered the sword and plopped it by Kurogane's feet. It hoped inside, crying about how Kurogane was mean and tried to find Fai for comfort. Kurogane a little frowned as it departured. In his day, they had sacks and horses for that sort of thing, and he certainly couldn't remember a sack getting mad at him when he asked it to do its job. Not that he was in the habit of talking to sacks, but even if he was, he wouldn't expect one to get all huffy and bound off if not treated politely.

Sakura, though she seemed concerned about Mokona and almost seemed to speak to Kurogane about his treatment of the white puff, was preoccupied with the task set before her. Aki no Kaze in hand once more, Sakura listened intently as Kurogane explained, demonstrating the steps.

"This is called Hama Ryu-o-jin. Watch carefully how I hold the blade through the stroke. If you're not doing it exactly like this, then you're gonna lose control of it and risk hitting something you don't want to. Like the house. Trust me," he added, remembering how angry a peasant had gotten after he'd destroyed her barn as a little kid and how his father had had it rebuilt, "you don't want that. However, you've got to keep it comfortable, too. Don't get too tense, or you'll be exhausted after a few tries." He reminded her, as her face filled with concentration.

Half an hour later, when he was reasonably confident that she could at least pull it off without destroying anything that they'd miss or need (like, for instance, their dwelling or himself), he let her try it.

It was weird, seeing someone else hold their sword back towards them, strange seeing the wind wisp around her more easily than it had him-- did she have an affinity with every damn nonliving thing there was? -- and then watching as the stroke cut true and sliced the stone cleanly down the middle. The shards fell away as orderly as peels on a banana slowly coming apart, and there, floating above the ground lightly, was the feather.

Sakura exclaimed happily and sheathed her sword. Kurogane didn't remember what she'd said, but the look on her face spoke volumes. Finally, she was able to do something, prove that she was indeed a contributing member to their odd and varied group. She had won the race and feather fairly, despite others' efforts to the contrary, and now she'd recovered her feather by her own hand.

All in all, her technique wasn't half bad. She had a far way to go still, at least in his swordfighting book, but this was triumph enough.

Kurogane nodded as she looked over for approval. "Good job, kid."

Sakura tentatively approached the feather, almost as though she were trying to get near a stray cat to pet it. Kurogane wondered why at first, but the thought soon dawned on him. It must be strange, to have something that was both new and old before you, something that you didn't know if it would be a good memory or not, something you might want to cherish, or banish to the darkest part of your mind. He admired her for going to it unflinchingly. Given his past, he knew it would have taken him longer if he was in her position.

Her eyes closed, and the sheathed blade slid out of her grasp, slipping to the ground as those creepy winds surrounded her again. The feather glowed above her heart, and then vanished, leaving her to fall, ever slowly, back to earth.

Kurogane cursed, both himself for forgetting that happened, and the magic or whatever the hell it was for being so stupid as to let it. He got there just in time to catch her and cradle her to his chest.

When she opened her eyes, she was a little dazed, but having a tall ninja holding you upright tends to wake you up pretty quickly. She gasped, eyes wide, but didn't move. His shirt was so warm...

"Kurogane-san..." Sakura whispered.

He'd had enough. Fate or whatever it was (he could never say that h-word of the witch's without grimacing) had taunted him too much. He was done with it. Sometimes you just had to take a gamble, and if that gamble happened to be on the luckiest person he'd ever met, then hell, maybe he stood half a chance.

And that was why he bent forward and, wrapping his arms around her and holding her close, brushed his lips against her forehead.

His kiss was as brief and fleeting as the light flutter of a bird's wing across her skin, and when she opened her eyes, he was fast disappearing into the darkness.

"Wait, Kurogane-san!"

Too late. The dark outline of a man she'd thought she'd seen had already slipped away into the night. Sakura swallowed, mind still reeling from what had happened (both the return of her memory--a pleasant one-- as well as the kiss), and rushed through the darkness, keen eyes and training taking over. She found what she was looking for on the outskirts of a meadow, about a hundred yards from the house.

"Kurogane-san!" She gasped, out of breath. He'd gone off at a fast clip, his paces were longer than hers, and it would be a lie to say that her heart had been beating at its normal rate as she ran to catch up, dress impeding her movements slightly. When she did find him, he was sitting on a stone at the edge of the trees, eyes rooted to the ground. She must have made some noise for he jerked his head around, eyes bright with anger and something else, clearly not expecting her to have followed. He rose, red eyes gleaming.

"What?" He asked acridly, the anger dripping in his words. "Look, if it's a sorry you want, I'm not going to give it to you. So what if I have feelings for you? That a problem?"

Sakura blinked, not sure what to say. Eventually, she closed her eyes and said, calmly:

"I don't want that."

Kurogane frowned more pronouncedly. Well, hell. The statement didn't make things any easier. It wasn't like he'd had an easy time of it, making fun of himself for liking her all day and still harboring the same feelings when he fell asleep at night. It wasn't like he already knew that his attachment was useless, that the kid was fated or something to be with her, that he, Kurogane, was meant to be the fierce protector that sank away when danger passed. Didn't she understand that this was his last resort? That, having tried everything else to rid himself of his ridiculous like for the girl, he was reduced to nothing more than this, confessing himself in the hope that that would get rid of the gnawing, creeping feeling in his chest?

"Hell if I did it on purpose." He lashed out at her, voice low and dangerous.

She shook her head as though in agony at what to say, hair whipping side to side dizzingly in the effort. "No, that's not what I meant!"

"Well then tell me already what the hell it is you meant." He could see a flurry of feelings fleeting across her face: surprise, confusion, even wonder. Hell, he could relate to her on that last one. Imagine, a cold-blooded assassain falling for a princess whose only objective in life was to make friends with everything. It was laughable, stupid, and if he was going to be rejected, she'd better make it quick and spare him a shred of dignity.

"I don't want an apology." She said, taking a deep breath. A flush crept up her cheeks, and on seeing it (his eyes were good enough to pick it out of the shadows) his face reddened, too. But instead of looking at him like he were a rather disgusting thing she'd accidentally found under a rock, she smiled. Great, he thought, she was going to let him down the sickly-sweet way and smile him out of her life. Just what he wanted.

"I really, I mean it's just that..." She only appeared to be getting more and more embarrassed as time went on, to Kurogane's great fury.

"Just say it already!" He nearly yelled, at his wit's end.

But what she did next took his breath away, rather literally.

For, just after he'd exhaled all his unease and wrath into that yell, she kissed him.

Kurogane nearly choked, needing to breathe and finding it suddenly impossible. But, through some miracle, he survived, heart-pounding, ruby red eyes fixed on her hazel ones.

He should have said something really snarky then. He'd had all these remarks set aside for the occasion from the very start, when he could finally confront her about her nonsensical crush and tell her how ninja didn't court princesses, didn't fall in love. He knew exactly what he'd tell her when he found out, poke fun at her for thinking about something so impossible, tell her it had been a waste of time, that he'd never fall for anybody, that he was sure she had someone waiting for her, and then walk away, cold and unchanging as the black steel he was. But, instead of doing anything he planned, Kurogane did the one thing he had never imagined doing.

He smiled his manic smile and kissed her right back.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

And that's a wrap! Woot! Sorry for this taking so abominably long-- I'm not sure if it's obvious, but this thing has gone through so many revisions it's like I've basically rewritten it. The first draft is still lurking around the shadier parts of LJ, if anyone's curious, but I wouldn't recommend seeking it out.

Ha! I feel sort of weird now, announcing OOC&aPH's end has left me with a strange feeling of accomplishment and sadness. Though, I'm happy to announce that _At the Court of Blackened Ivory_, the sequel to _Of Origami Cranes and a Paper Heart_, is in the works and will be up shortly, provided that the start of school doesn't send me running for the hills at the sight of my courseload. It'll still be KuroSaku, but with a slight angsty twist as it follows the group as they go about their feather-collecting journey.

Thank you as always for reading through this, and thank you especially for making it all the way to the end. This is the first major fanfic I have ever finished and I have to say that I never expected to have as much support for this one. I'm floored by the reviews and, as always, I'll do my best to answer.

**Larania Drake** :: Yes, I have indeed. I read scanlations of the manga so I'm either about current with everything that's been released in Japan or a few chapters behind. I plan on dealing with everything after the events in OOC&aPH in its sequel. Thanks so much for sticking with me through this and hope you enjoyed the end!

**Karuri** :: Well, that's the point. ;D Gotta have something to draw people back, right? Thanks for reading!

**Tsubasakittypwnage** :: Thanks for all your reviews! Yeah, I do tend to throw in some random things when I'm writing Fai, but that's probably why I have so much fun putting him into scenes.

**Dynamic Leader** :: Thanks for the crit! Looking over the beginning, I'm really a bit ashamed of it, to tell you the truth. I've rewritten the first four chapters, so maybe they'll make their way onto FFN when I figure out how to re-upload without killing everything. It's an evolution of my work currently, but yeah, as a writer looking back over them, I'm not as thrilled as I could be. I tried not to make stuff too boring in this one; the sequel will depart quite a bit from the manga, though. I don't know about killing characters when they're not mine; I don't like doing it, since if you're going to do it right, it's pretty final. I tend to play around with things, but put them back (somewhat) in the state they arrived in.

**IceQueen987** :: I'm usually pretty good at evading death, though I sometimes fail. I really do do the phoenix thing: guaranteed, if I don't post for a while, something will creep up from me when you least expect it. Thanks! Glad to hear you liked the humor!

**Fullmetal Fantasy** :: Yay! I felt so bad about not updating for a while, since I know people want to know how it turns out. This chapter just gave me so many problems, and I wanted to end it on a good note. Thanks so much for reading and re-reading--honestly, the biggest gift anyone can give me is laughing at this and enjoying it. We'll see about the KxT; I have a chapter that needs editing for that, too.

If anyone wants to comment more on this or wants questions answered, I'll attach a brief afterward in which I'll try to clarify things, reveal chapter themes (if people haven't already guessed them yet), and provide a sneak peak into _At the Court of Blackened Ivory_. As always, thank you for reading my strange, slightly goofy fic, and I hope you liked it.

--cy.


	22. Afterward and Aftermath

He'd locked and bolted the windows, but at this point, what did it matter any more? The curtains were closing on this world, and that was that.

The pork bun hadn't even given them enough time to sell the house or rent it out to someone, so Kurogane had assigned himself the task of securing entrance points in case of future use. He thought he'd seen the magician give him a strange look, like he was on the verge of saying something but then decided not to at the last moment. Kurogane frowned. What, that his locking the windows was useless? That, if everything went well, they'd never see this place again?

Hell, it wasn't as though he had a driving urge to come back. Seeing Tomoyo-hime fawning over Sakura all the time was just weird and made his stomach a little queasy. Yeah, he'd miss the dragonflies; he had made himself scarce when the time came for Syaoran to talk to the guy from the parts shop about selling their models and had sulked on the roof, watching riders glide lazily through clouds while the transaction was completed. He didn't like not having a back-up plan, something for them to fall back on when everything went to hell.

The manjuu didn't even seem to be its normal annoying self. Granted, the kid had fed it all the clothes they'd bought from this world, which was a lot more than usual, as they'd been here a while and some of the proceeds from their dragonflies had gone toward purchasing a few more outfits to sell at the next world. They could always have Sakura gamble for them, but it was good to have a second option.

Just in case.

He latched the roof door behind him and scaled the outer walls of the house back down to the ground. What was wrong with him? His instincts didn't usually give him this much crap when everything seemed so solved: the saboteurs were caught, the feather was back--why the hell was he still feeling like something was waiting in the wings, something dark and sinister looming ahead in the not-so-distant future?

Kurogane tried to shake it off as he walked back to rejoin the others, but the feeling still nagged at him. Somewhere, a small voice told him, something is happening and it's not good.

* * *

**Author's Note**:

Well, here it is: really and truly the end. The above is a preview of the first chapter/ lead-in to _At the Court of Blackened Ivory_, which should be premiering soon (seriously). In other news of ends and beginnings, I finally read the end of Tsubasa today. I can't say that I liked it, but I'm one of those weirdos who prefers the series from before the attack of the you-know-whats. I do have a few ideas bubbling around that I'm playing with, but I don't expect that the sequel to this will be completely true to canon.

For those that were wondering, here are the themes that went along with each chapter. Themes are from fanfic100's claim table (except the afterword), so if you liked a particular chapter, check out the theme that went along with it!

I. Sweet Dreams? Maybe Not. ::_ Food_

II. Never Enough :: _Not Enough_

III. What You Leave Unsaid ::_ Dark_

IV. Broken Chances and Backward Glances :: _Why?_

V. Heartless :: _Work_

VI. Wash Out :: _Brown_

VII. Midnights and Musings :: _Shapes_

VIII. A Likeness of Spirit ::_ Spirit_

IX. Shatter :: _Friends_

X. His Paper Heart I: Summer Nights :: _Summer_

XI. The Long Goodbye ::_ White_

XII. His Paper Heart II: An Autumn Haunted :: _Shade_

XIII. To Wish on Paper Wings :: _Lovers_

XIV. From the Ashes of a Fairy Tale ::_ Fire_

XV. What Goes Around :: _Circle_

XVI. His Paper Heart III: Glistening Winter ::_ Diamond_

XVII. Tempest Rising :: _Storm_

XVIII. A Second's Hesitation :: _Yellow_

XIX. To Take the Fall ::_ Fall_

XX. His Paper Heart IV: Spring Blossoms :: _Spring_

XXI. Last Tears to a Paper Heart :: _New_

XXII. Afterword and Aftermath :: _Curtains Close_

A few final words:

**Larania Drake** :: I have some plans for that. ;D

**FullMetalFantasy** :: Hopefully my work will continue to live up to expectations. Thanks much for your reviews and for drawing super-cute KuroTomo! I'll keep writing in my free time, so we'll see about a KxT update.

**Cuenta** :: Thank you! That chapter was the one I was agonizing over the most, so I'm glad people liked it!

Thanks as always to everyone who reviews--I've loved reading over everything and your comments have on more than one occasion made my day. You guys truly rock. And that's that! See you at the court.

--cy.


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